Carbon Management as an issue of competitive advantage

Wow... just, wow. I had the privilege of listening to an excellent webinar hosted by GreenBiz.com focusing on what they call The Resource Optimization Imperative. Representatives from PricewaterhouseCoopers and Hara discussed how effective environmental management is becoming a make or break issue for businesses' competitive advantage.

Honestly, there wasn't necessarily anything truly revolutionary in the webinar, but it was full of practical examples, and reinforcement of my passion: sustainability along the supply chain.

I'll post the link to the recap if the email includes permission to do so.

a brief digression on food

Considering that my first-ever personal blog was centered on food and cooking, I spend remarkably little time here on discussing food. So I give you a brief synopsis of one of the highlights of my weekend.

At the Durham Farmer's Market, they held the second annual Chef's Challenge, in which three local chefs were asked to create a dish based on a secret ingredient announced that morning. This year's secret ingredient? Squash. The contenders? Justin Rakes from Four Square, Billy Cotter from Toast, and Dave Alworth from Guglhupf.

Chef Rakes gave us some sort of shredded zucchini dish (I missed the first round), that was good, but seemed very incomplete, flavor-wise.

Chef Cotter prepared a puree of squash and red pepper, among other things, topped with little roulades of grilled zucchini squash stuffed with homemade ricotta, served with some sort of squash, tomato, and onion salad (I missed the description on this one, too, but it was an herby, vinegary little salad that was bright and tart). This, as with all of Billy Cotter's creations, was delicious. I have said before and will say again: that ricotta is a religious experience.

Chef Alworth presented a dish of squash and two-cheese (local goat and farmer's, I think) ravioli topped with "corn maque choux" (not sure why the "corn" epithet, since it's traditional), and I'm drawing a blank on what the sauce was.

Alworth gets major props for creating ravioli in 1.5 hours under an outdoor tent, and the entry was fantastic, but in the end, Billy Cotter took home the trophy. Having sampled all three, I understood why. The man sure knows how to play to an ingredient's strengths!

Judges Elizabeth Shestak of The Durham News, Lex Alexander of 3Cups fame (and former owner of Wellspring Grocery, which was bought out by Whole Foods in the late 1990s), and famous foodie Andrea Weigl of the N&O presided over the competition, with Frank Stasio of NPR fame acting as emcee.

All in all, another event that makes me love Durham. Congrats to Billy Cotter, and many thanks to all competing chefs.

interesting news

Proposed new food guidelines are more focused on less.

As the blog's author notes, there'd need to be some major changes in policies, but here's one blogger crossing my fingers.

Sustainability as Savior

Apparently, sustainable business isn't just a passing fad. In fact, 93 percent of CEOs from 766 businesses surveyed said they think sustainability will be key to their future success, and 81 percent have incorporated it into daily operations in some form, a la Newsweek.

While I think that sustainability as a concept still isn't well understood by many in business, they're starting to catch on that strategic efforts to lessen environmental impact and improve communities can be, well, strategic.

wait, what?

So Chinese LGBT activists are picking up/ramping up the good fight. Which is, obviously, good. But one thing I found just fascinating was this snippet:

Li’s research in cities suggests about 91% of people are happy to work with gay colleagues – a higher rate than in US surveys – and that 30% back gay marriage.

the times, they are a-changin'

In sustainability news, HBR brings yet another report on how businesses are going to have to shape up or ship out on the sustainability issue, this time because of the ginormous disparity of values between current CEOs and the replacement crop.

Interesting times, these.

a step in the right direction

Filed under "it's about doggone time," the Department of Labor is preparing to extend FMLA rights to LGBTQ employees.

Maybe I live in a bubble, or maybe it's because I have so many LGBTQ loved ones, but I can't understand why, in 2010, there are so many loud, angry voices trying to dehumanize and deny the queer community. Here's hoping for a sea change in the next few years.

sister values

The more I read this list of tips to improve supply chain visibility from the Global Transportation Management newsletter, the more I think transparency and sustainability (along all 3BL dimensions) are analogues for one another. Really, they go hand in hand.

We'll take a few points and compare:

1. Accommodate Multiple Fulfillment Models.
Visibility solutions need to be highly configurable to accommodate all of the various fulfillment models in operation across the enterprise. [...] Supply chain visibility solutions that are flexible enough to accommodate multiple fulfillment models allow benefits to accrue across the enterprise and not within a specific product line or operational model.

Like supply chain fulfillment, sustainability is definitely not a one-size-fits-all model. It requires flexibility, meeting businesses' unique needs, and adapting to differing demands across industries, geographies, and business sizes.

2. Create an ‘Information Hub’.
Visibility solutions not only extend processes outside the four walls, but must integrate and aggregate key information from within the four walls of the enterprise. The ‘Information Hub’ creates a one-stop-shop for key order, shipment, and inventory information from all internal ERP, TMS, WMS and other inventory planning systems.

Having a central location for all data surrounding business-related activities helps not only track and manage a business's social and environmental footprint, but also aids in continuity in the event of turnover or promotion.

And we'll cherry-pick through the rest, but I think all points are pertinent.

3. Don’t Assume Data Quality.
Aberdeen Research recently conducted a survey and discovered that only 16% of Visibility implementations have data quality above 91%.

Always try for better data. If your data are corrupt, noisy, or just incomplete, you may be missing a big part of the picture regarding your business's impact.

6. Push Visibility Back to Origin

This should go without saying. Informational linkages back to the source mean easier, more complete tracking of your impact, especially if these informational linkages are high quality and automated.

7. Finally Manage Trading Partners with Scorecards.
The by-product of operational Visibility is a rich repository of supply chain data that can be aggregated across the enterprise and with all trading partners year after year after year.

Once you aggregate data on yourself and on your suppliers, you should aim to evaluate your suppliers with a well-defined scorecard at least once a year. If suppliers fail to meet sustainability goals, and if they can't be pressured to meet them, it's a big ocean out there, and rapidly increasing in size.

8. Track Landed Costs Along the Chain.
Aberdeen reports that companies that implement visibility are twice as likely to reduce total landed costs over the past two years.

This should go without saying. If you know what the impact of your business is along its chain and at each stage, then you can manage and improve it.


Again, I think the case could be made for any of the ten tips, but these are the most obvious ways in which visibility and sustainability are really complementary values.

making up for lost blogging

Okay, I'll post this and shut up for a while.

RSA animations are pretty great. They're ultimately 10-minute talks by subject matter experts with white board visualization to accompany the talk. This one by Barbara Ehrenreich seemed interesting to me, but maybe that's because I'm not a naturally sunny person, and eye-bulging optimism makes my face muscles hurt.

Thoughts?

...and one on Wal Mart

Despite the fact that I still can't bring myself to set foot in a Wal Mart without my gag reflex acting up (yeah, I know, I'm such a stereotype), I'm pretty routinely amazed by some of their new initiatives. Case in point, their new move to promote local agriculture.

If a store as big as Wal Mart can promote local, diversified agriculture, it could really shift the balance of power in agronomics.

Gazing into the crystal ball

I've become slightly obsessed with this little map from Forbes.com visualizing where, in 2008, people were moving to and from.

Most telling are the Los Angeles, Detroit, and (I'm sure somehow) Seattle areas.

More BP fun, and then some Alabama love... sort of.

In he spirit of the Great Gulf Debacle, Green Energy Reporter posted the top five BP "eco-friendly" ads. While I was a longtime fan of BP's solar efforts, when Tony Hayward stepped in, he kind of shot that all to hell and has been gradually reducing their efforts for three years. Maybe that will change now.

Now, on to Alabama.

*sigh*

Alabama's just not content to stay in Mississippi's and South Carolina's embarrassing shadows. Nope, we've got to represent with the crazy!

This guy clearly has a first-grade understanding of history and civics, and just comes off as a total nutter. The sad bit is that I'm sure many folks will vote for him.

The Great Gulf Debacle

I'm not going to get into a detailed opinion of the events that have taken place since mid-April, but I will voice my agreement over this bit of the whole mess--that a criminal investigation while the spill is still happening is making things worse, not better. I recommend a read for a much more detailed understanding of the argument, but here's a snippet:

"[I]magine being a hospital physician who discovers he is under criminal investigation for causing a situation—hard-to-control hemorrhaging or sepsis, perhaps—in which he is still desperately trying to save the patient. Suddenly, every decision—whether in treatment, testing, or diagnosis—would be haunted by possibly increasing the likelihood of going to prison after the episode is over."

Dis Orientation

I've just completed orientation for my summer fellowship. For those not familiar, I'm working with a non-profit that consults with small businesses and non-profits on Triple Bottom Line sustainability and how to improve their performance on the different dimensions of people, planet, and performance.

It was a long orientation, with a significant time investment (generally 9am to 9pm every day), but it was pretty superior, as orientations go.

Obviously, whenever you get together with a new group of people there are always ice breakers involved. Most of the time these are painful and contrived, but I actually think these folks did a decent job of keeping it casual and organic.

One question I appreciated quite well was thus: If you could change one and only one behavior of everyone around you, what would it be?

There were some great responses on composting, eliminating disposable water bottles, educating, and more. By the time it got to my turn, I was worried I'd have nothing left.

Still, having spent so much of my life in school buildings and windowless dungeons offices, I've been thinking a lot about how much harm our architecture is doing us.

In the end, I suggested that I'd like for people to better understand how our environment (both ecological and social) affects us mentally, physically, and spiritually, and how our use and/or abuse of it can harm or help us as individuals and as communities.

The purported reason school buildings all look like prisons is because windows are a distraction from learning. I have to say, though, that natural lighting helps keep the soul from being deadened by its surroundings. Plate glass windows in each classroom with sun tubes and exposure to outdoor and to constructive social time would do wonders for most kids (and adults in offices, for that matter).

Anyway, that's just been on my mind a bit, and I figured I ought to post an update on my silence while I'm waiting in this (naturally lit, open) office for a meeting.

Work is a distraction from life.

Sorry for the hiatus. Work has been keeping me busy, and I'm now in formal orientation (go figure), which will last over a week, and will be the first time I'll have missed watching the National Spelling Bee in years.

Anyway, just to condense things down to a list, for simplicity's sake, I've been sitting on the following links:


1. Supply chain management becomes much more important during economic recovery. Booyeah for my career choice!

2. On God and gays. A look at the hypocrisy of religious anti-gay sentiment.

3. Carbon counters may change the future of accounting for sustainability.

4. More on immigration. El Paso, Texas, as a model city. Not despite its immigrants, but *because* of them.

5. Food porn.

[EDIT: Also, happy to be blogging again on the day when BP plugged the oil leak!]