Does Buying Green Make a Difference?

When you consider that just in the last few years the world has seen a dramatic increase in public eco awareness, specifically in ‘green’ consumer knowledge, it is no wonder why there have been so many changes on market shelves.

At the PEW Center for Climate Change’s Energy Efficiency Conference held in Chicago last April, one of the plenary session speakers stated a remarkable statistic.  Only 8% of what you DO is sustainable — the other 92% is in the supply chain — in other words, what you BUY. So in essence, your eco actions add up but the products you purchase really add up because of the cascade affect in a sustainable businesses supply chain.

The growing focus on Supply Chain Management (SCM) as a strategic function within the organization has proven to be opportunity to reduce cost and add value to the bottom line.  The recent emergence of sustainable supply chain management provides the opportunity to leverage this progress from an added perspective.  Mainstream thinking is just beginning to incorporate expanding eco awareness to include the role of social and environmental responsibility in supply chain value creation. 

However, in recent months, a number of corporate giants like IBM and P&G have announced new initiatives that pressure suppliers to do much more to measure and manage their environmental impacts. With water, carbon, and energy management becoming a critical sustainable business strategy to address internal and external supply issues, businesses addressing these areas are creating supply chain management alignment through increased eco awareness, cooperative business relationships, and applied sustainability concepts that can have immediate business impacts and reduce business sustainability risk. 

 So, yes, buying green does make a difference.  As a consumer, you can vote with your dollar for sustainable change.

Caring For Vulnerable Populations in Canada

Homeless and street-involved populations: eLearning Modules on Homelessness and Healthcare

These modules examine who the homeless are in Canada, how they’ve become homeless, the risky behaviours in which they engage, the diseases that run through their communities, the challenges and obstacles they face every day, and treatment options designed with the unique requirements of homeless people in mind.
Learn more about the eLearning Modules

Healthcare on Vancouver’s downtown eastside
An inner-city primary care physician on Vancouver’s downtown eastside finds innovative ways to provide support and care to populations having difficulty accessing healthcare services. Dr. Trevor Corneil, Medical Director – Primary Health Care Urban Vancouver Coastal Health Authority, Three Bridges Clinic – Vancouver, B.C.
Learn more about Dr. Trevor Corneil

A clinic for Vancouver’s street youth
A clinic catering to street youth that was born out of frustration with the quality of health services available to young people in the community.
Dr. Todd Sakakibara, Three Bridges Clinic – Vancouver, B.C.

Soccer, healthcare and the homeless
A soccer team comprised of homeless men is part of a program that uses sport and wellness to change homeless men’s outlook on life and helps them take control of their well-being.
Rhonda Alvarez, Program Coordinator, Healing Spirit Lodge – Vancouver, B.C.

A mobile healthcare solution for the street-involved in Halifax
Community organizations join forces to develop a mobile outreach program to deliver primary healthcare to street-involved populations in Halifax and Dartmouth.
Patti Melanson, North End Community Health Centre, NS
Larry Baxter, Chair, Nova Scotia Advisory Committee on AIDS – Halifax, NS
Learn more about Mobile Outreach Street Health

Street reach: reaching out on the streets of St. John’s
A group of community organizations collaborate to secure funding for a Street Reach program, where frontline workers are sent out to provide healthcare services for the homeless in St. John’s, Newfoundland from out of the back of a truck.
Tree Walsh, Coordinator, Safe Works Access Program – St. John’s, NL

The Red Door: a health clinic for adolescents in Nova Scotia
An adolescent health clinic that flourishes on the passion of a few committed nurses, who despite having regular full-time jobs, dedicate time every week to work for an organization they believe in.
Alyson Lamb, part-time nurse at the Red Door Clinic – Halifax, NS
Learn more about The Red Door

INSITE: Vancouver’s safe injection site
A safe injection site is established to curb overdose deaths and offer opportunities for injection drug users to approach nurses with an aim to improve their own health.
Mr. Mark Townsend, Executive Director, Portland Hotel Society; Manager, Insite – Vancouver, B.C.
Learn more about Insite

The Power is in the Question

Too many organizations underestimate the power of asking their stakeholders important questions in a timely manner. Even worse, too many firms treat their internal disputes and disagreements as sensitive information to be hoarded rather than as valuable insight to be shared.  On the flip side, our eco friendly consulting subscribes to the likes of Tom Peters,
“Innovation comes only from readily and seamlessly sharing information rather than hoarding it.”  

 In the corporate world, most business leaders agree that achieving real bottom line improvements, whether through cost savings or improved revenues, is critical to business sustainability.  However, these bottom line achievements are the result of close collaboration with key stakeholders committed to the business’s success.  What happens if you aren’t asking the right questions? Or, what if you are asking the right questions but to the wrong group of stakeholders?   Add to that, the complexities of conversations in social media.

 The speed of business sustainability information rapidly increasing and global eco awareness constantly expanding, it has become increasingly important for companies to harness the power of social media to engage with internal and external stakeholders.  Social media provides employees, individuals, communities, businesses, and non-government organizations the ability to connect with business in meaningful discussion from anywhere in the world in real time.   As sustainability consultants, we encourage businesses to engage in the conversation by asking questions.  Curiosity elicits the best answers.  Consider the results of stakeholder collaboration:

 •    Employees actively engaged in the sustainability strategies of the business.
•    The supply chain working together under aligned sustainability goals.
•    Business responsiveness to the expectations of the consumer.
•    Business practices designed for minimal environmental impact.
•    Realized benefits of a supportive local community.

 What questions do you need to be asking your stakeholders to drive new levels of sustainable business performance in your organization?