Kaplan EduNeering and Seventh Generation Introduce Sustainability Institute | 3BL Media

(3BLMedia/theCSRfeed) December 1, 2009 – Princeton, NJ and Burlington, VT – Kaplan EduNeering, a leading provider of compliance and knowledge management solutions, and Seventh Generation, a pioneer and leader in sustainability, announced the launch of their new Sustainability Institute.  The Kaplan EduNeering/Seventh Generation Sustainability Institute (www.InstituteSustainability.com) will provide business and governmental managers, employees, subcontractors and supply chain partners with best practices and specialized training in the development and implementation of sustainability initiatives.

“Sustainability is a holistic, systems-based learning approach to living well today by employing business practices that enable future generations to live better tomorrow,” said Lisa Clune, President of Kaplan EduNeering. “The Kaplan EduNeering/Seventh Generation Sustainability Institute provides practical guidance and training for business practices that are responsive to the principles of sustainability and to the financial expectations of stakeholders.” 

“There is now compelling evidence that sustainable companies enjoy a competitive advantage over organizations that continue to embrace an exclusive focus on short term profits,” said Jeffrey Hollender, Executive Chairman of Seventh Generation. “That business paradigm is now seen as counterproductive, not only for society and the natural world but also for company stakeholders. Organizations are beginning to understand that responsible corporate behavior has become a business imperative and that it will only become increasingly more important in the future.”

Although recent studies confirm the belief among business professionals that environmental, social and governance activities create shareholder value and increase consumer loyalty, a study by MIT Sloan Management Review and Boston Consulting Group reports that only 30% of firms are implementing sustainability practices.

The Kaplan EduNeering/Seventh Generation Sustainability Institute provides:

•    An online library of courses, including Sustainability 101, Sustainable Supply Chain and Greenhouse Gas Management.  Each of these modules addresses one of the essential business practices in an effective sustainability program. The Sustainability Institute courses are also a good primer for companies seeking distribution with Wal-Mart and that must adhere to Wal-Mart’s Sustainability Index.   Kaplan EduNeering is a pioneer in online learning and has developed more than 4,000 custom courses and learning exercises for its clients and a library of 550 standardized compliance and regulatory courses.

•    Ten video modules for ongoing sustainability learning, with topics ranging from “Developing a Sustainability Mindset” to “Be Transparent.”  The video series includes five modules centered on sustainable business practices.  Each of these modules addresses one of the essential business practices in an effective sustainability program.  The videos feature Jeffrey Hollender, Seventh Generation’s co-founder and current Executive Chairman.  As the company’s Inspired Protagonist, Jeffrey has advised Fortune 500 companies and authored best-selling books including  How to Make the World a Better Place: A Guide for Doing Good and What Matters Most – How a small group of pioneers are teaching social responsibility to big business – and why big business is listening.  Jeffrey’s newest book, The Responsibility Revolution, is scheduled for publication in March 2010.

•    An online toolkit called the Sustainability Communication CoachSM (SCC), which includes articles, brochures, mini-training modules, case studies and other resources to develop and sustain an ongoing, enterprise-wide sustainability communications program. The SCC is modeled after Kaplan EduNeering’s widely used Ethics Communication CoachSM, which now includes 2,000 tools and celebrates its ten-year anniversary in 2009.

•    Optional services, including sustainability consulting, through Seventh Generation’s professional staff and an exam prep package for the LEEDv3 (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design).  A Green Associate certificate awarded by the Green Building Council can be provided by Kaplan AE Education.

“The gap between ‘recognizing’ the value of sustainability and ‘achieving’ that value is costing businesses around the world billions of dollars in lost profits,” said Lisa Clune.  “The Kaplan EduNeering/Seventh Generation Sustainability Institute provides the broad resources to help companies understand and achieve the tangible benefits of sustainable business practices.”

About Kaplan EduNeering
Kaplan EduNeering (www.kaplaneduneering.com) is part of Kaplan, Inc., a leading global provider of educational services to individuals, schools and businesses.  Kaplan is a subsidiary of The Washington Post Company (NYSE: WPO). Kaplan EduNeering develops technology-enabled knowledge solutions for assuring regulatory compliance and improving business performance. Kaplan EduNeering is headquartered in Princeton, NJ, and has offices in Houston, TX, Bloomsburg, PA, and London, UK. 

About Seventh Generation
Seventh Generation is a leader in corporate responsibility and sustainable business practices and is committed to being the most trusted brand of household and personal-care products for your living home. It derives its name from the Iroquois belief that “In our every deliberation, we must consider the impact of our decisions on the next seven generations.”

For information on Seventh Generation cleaning, paper, baby and feminine personal care products, to find store locations, and explore the company’s website visit www.seventhgeneration.com. To read more about Seventh Generation’s corporate responsibility, visit the Corporate Consciousness Report at:  www.seventhgeneration.com/corporate-responsibility/2008.

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Sexy And Recycled – Meet The FlexibleLove Folding Chair

Talk about having extra seating when you need it.

The FlexibleLove Folding Chair was designed by Chishen Chiu. He stumbled upon a small factory producing ‘honeycombed’ sheets of recycled paper in suburban Taipei one day, and was intrigued. Taking the idea of the honeycomb structure and creating cardboard palettes to replace traditional wooden palettes, he believed the material could be applied to create any rigid structure. Within days, the idea for FlexibleLove had been sketched out and turned into a working model.

Compacted, it’s a sturdy seat for one. But all you need to do is stretch out the accordian-like structure into any appropriate seating shape and blammo! instant party.

This durable furniture is produced from widely-available recycled materials like paper and wood waste, and is made using pre-existing manufacturing processes in order to reduce its overall impact on the environment.

Greenopolis.com is dedicated to our users. We focus our attention on changing the world through recycling, waste-to-energy and conservation. We reward our users for their sustainable behaviors on our website, through our Greenopolis Tracking Stations and with curbside recycling programs.

Charlie Brown, Environmentalist! How to Choose the Right Tree!

Remember the scene from A Charlie Brown Christmas where he picks out the saddest little tree in the lot? Everyone else had passed it over – had Charlie not picked it out it would have ended up in the bonfire or trash heap. Then with love and caring of his community of friends, it became a beautiful little symbol of peace on earth and renewal. Charlie Brown became an environmental hero, utilizing a tree that would have gone to waste and likely sparing a living one in the woods!

Well, OK, that’s probably a bit of hyperbole and oversell. The tree was a cut one and was doomed to dry up and die anyway. But the message in that film of spirit and substance over consumption and commercialism is an enduring one, both in the holiday season and all year round. This year, you can do Charlie Brown one better.

via youtube.com

First of all, what’s the meaning you want to create for yourself and family and the message you want to send to others? More and more people are decorating a living tree in their own yard, or bringing a small live one indoors to decorate and then replant outside later. I had one friend who has built an evergreen forest in his yard, one tree at a time. The message is conservation, and the living trees in his yard carry the meaning of each holiday season for ward year after year. Don’t want to buy? You can even rent a live tree in Portland, Oregon from the Original Living Christmas Tree Company - they replant them for you in sensitive areas to conserve water and soils.

If you choose to have a cut tree indoors, a locally cut or one you cut yourself will be fresher and last longer. Don’t feel too bad about cutting a tree from a tree farm, any more than you’d regret cutting a stalk of broccoli – they are grown as a crop, and new ones are planted as the more mature ones are cut, continuing a natural cycle. Avoid the big operations that cut those weeks ahead of time, ship those long distances, wasting fossil fuels and spewing carbon into your holiday air. When you are done with the tree, place it outside and hang popcorn, suet, and other treats for birds and wildlife- some will also shelter in it. If this is not possible, or when you have to get it out of your yard, break it up or chip it, and use it as mulch in your walkways, flower beds or gardens. Apartment dwellers, see if a friend in the ‘burbs or country will take it and use it up. Don’t send it to the landfill. Or you can contact the National Christmas Tree Association about their recycling program – they take old trees and reuse them as habitat, mulch, rebuilding sand dunes on beaches and restoring the Louisiana coastline to prevent future Katrina catastrophes.

For city dwellers. A better choice might be an artificial one. But who wants petroleum based tree in the house, even if you will use it year after year? A better bet might be a Buro Tree, made from reclaimed wood, or make your own tree from recycled materials.

A Mountain Dew Tree from green and red Mountain Dew Cans - the site shows you how to make your own, and after drinking all the Dew, the sugar and caffeine buzz will give you the time and energy to do it.

Or if you’ve got a little one crawling about, how about this one made from baby food jars from Kaboose.com?

You can go to Roxycraft.com and make this one out of faux fur.

But whatever you do, keep the spirit and message of the holiday out front. If you need a reminder, you can go here to watch Charlie Brown’s original tree video. Ho ho ho!

Greenopolis.com is dedicated to our users. We focus our attention on changing the world through recycling, waste-to-energy and conservation. We reward our users for their sustainable behaviors on our website, through our Greenopolis Tracking Stations and with curbside recycling programs.

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