Sustainable Enterprise Conference 2006:

Practical Tools for the Transition

Workshop Descriptions

 

Keynote Speaker:

The Business Case for Sustainability
Paul Dolan
Former CEO of Fetzer Vineyards
author of True to Our Roots: Fermenting a Business Revolution

How Fetzer's path to sustainability has preserved the environment, strengthened their communities and enriched the lives of their employees without sacrificing the bottom line.
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Fundamentals for Sustainable Design
Susan Briski
Sustainable Progress

What does it mean to be sustainable? What concepts can be used in designing more sustainable products, processes, and services? In this workshop we will explore some of the concepts for sustainable design created by the leading sustainability thinkers. This will include concepts from The Natural Step by Karl Heinrick Robert’, Natural Capitalism by Hawken, Lovins, and Lovins; and Cradle to Cradle by William McDonough and Michael Braungart.
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Reducing Greenhouse Gases:
Good For Your Business and Your Planet
J. David Erickson
Climate Protection Campaign

The workshop begins with a brief presentation of the science of global warming, greenhouse gases (GHG) and climate change. There will then be a description of the process that can be used by a business to inventory its emissions, set a target for reduction, then plan and implement GHG reduction measures through energy efficiency and use of zero-carbon energy sources. There will be a description of carbon trading and today’s carbon markets, and how to position the reductions in GHG emissions so they can be tradable. Finally there will be two or three case studies, time permitting, showing how businesses have improved their bottom line, and positioned themselves to be players or are currently playing in the carbon market.
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Stakeholder Engagement for Sustainability
Lance Funston & Erik Wohlgemuth
The Future 500

Stakeholder engagement is a formal process of relationship management through which companies or industries engage with a set of their stakeholders in an effort to align their mutual interests, to reduce risk and advance the triple bottom line - the company's financial, social, and environmental performance.

This workshop will focus on:
  • Who is Future 500 and what do we do?
  • What is SE and why is it important?
  • Demonstration of our stakeholder mapping and planning (sMAP) process and software using our SEED (Sustainable Energy and Environmental Demand) Initiative as a case example.
  • Applying the SE process to smaller enterprises.

The proprietary Future 500 sMAP - a comprehensive system based on fifteen years of application - is available exclusively through Future 500 workshops and service agreements.
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Getting Started: First Steps for Ecological Sustainability
Stephen Gale - Strategic Performance Partners
Cynthia Riggs - Women Building Business

This workshop will provide practical information that will allow the participant to conduct a simple “self assessment” and determine “first steps” to start reducing their organization’s use of resources and reduce harmful impacts on the environment in which we live. Using publicly available checklists and a publicly available guide to selecting business-specific opportunities, participants will use their own organization as a “case study” in the workshop. Nothing presented in this course is “proprietary.” Everything used is available without cost and does not require expert advice to get started. Co-taught by two business owners who “started from scratch” – participants will be better prepared to “hit the ground running.”
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Authentic Visual Language:
Reaching Eco-conscious consumers Creating Sustainable Customer Relationships Through Authentic Design & Copy
Janet Pomeroy & Sonora Beam
Digital Hive

This workshop addresses the key design and copy criteria that every sustainable business needs to consider when communicating with its prospects or customers. Branding, messaging, graphic design, iconography, images and words are critical communication elements, that, if used correctly, reinforces your company’s value to the sustainable business (LOHAS) customer and foster long-term customer relationships. Using current advertising and interactive website examples, we will explore the criteria for excellent communication. By using a “before and after” process, participants will walk away with understanding of the value and power of good design.
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Measuring Sustainability Performance
Ed Quevedo & Rosanne Harding
WSP Environmental North America

Measuring sustainability performance is difficult to do when using only bottom-line tools. And yet, as organizations of all types embark on a sustainable path, the question of measurement is integral to accountability and progress. This practical, hands-on workshop will help you develop meaningful, reliable, measures for sustainability performance in all three dimensions of sustainable development. 
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The Human Element of Change: Tapping Alternative Energy
Terry Taylor
Global Genesis

Would you like your organization to be more sustainable, but are uncertain about how to start the conversation? Are you looking for buy-in from others in your efforts toward sustainability? In this workshop, we will examine how to create crucial conversations that will help you make the kind of change you need to in your organization, whether you are "at the top" or "at the bottom." You will walk away from this workshop with strategies for communication about the essential changes you wish to create in your organization.
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Just how sustainable is your supply chain?
Liz Thach, Terry Taylor and Ed Quevedo

In this practical, revealing, hands-on workshop, we will examine the concept of sustainable supply chain management (SSCM), which enables the development of meaningful, reliable, measures for sustainability performance in all three dimensions of sustainable development (human capital, natural capital, and financial capital). The tools we will discuss are of use to individual activists, and for companies, communities, and institutions of higher education. You will have the opportunity to assess your companion's supply chain and determine what you can do to work with suppliers to manage toward increasd sustainability.
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Panel: Intrepreneurs & Entrepreneurs
Advancing Sustainability in Companies and Markets
John Stayton
Program Director
MBA in Sustainable Enterprise
New College of California

Panel Members:


Sustainability change agents are transforming business in two ways. They are working inside of companies, driving them to produce less waste and use fewer resources. They are also starting companies that are providing opportunities for humanity to live more sustainably, which has resulted in some of the world's fastest growing industries. This panel features leading sustainability intrapreneurs working to green North Bay companies, as well as entrepreneurs who exemplify how the integration of sustainability into core company values can drive revenue growth.
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