2011 Show Us Your BRA!™ Calendar Launch

The 2011 Show Us Your Bra™ Calendar, a project of All4One Alliance (http://www.all4onealliance.org/), raises money to fill this need for underserved women – those without health insurance, those whose insurance doesn’t cover this service, and those whose co-pays or co-insurances effectively deny them access to this service.

  The calendars are available at lingerie shops nationwide, through the generous support of founding sponsor, Amoena, and online through the All4One Alliance at www.all4onealliance.org/.

Is Business Sustainability the Elephant in the Room?

There are many factors that will ultimately shape the future face of business.  For some, these pressure points will show up as risks while for others as opportunities.  With many businesses discussing strategies and actions on a road to recovery, business sustainability may be the massive unseen elephant in the room.

There is no doubt, at least from our sustainability consulting perspective, that the landscape of business is changing.   The pressures of the past are being replaced with the business sustainability forces of today. 

•    Global policy and local legislation defining required corporate action.
•    Consumer preferences for responsible corporate action and alternative products.
•    Market pressures to make alternative options competitive.
•    Increased business competition seeking to capitalize on emerging markets.
•    Corporate giants leading the way with policies and guidelines for supply chains.

As the business world evaluates the range of possible futures emerging from these economic times, business sustainability planning is defining itself as leading edge strategic thinking.  No longer will a business be simply defined by the difference between cost and revenue.  The future value of sustainable business action is the elephant in the room that can no longer go unnoticed.

•    How could base sales increase through improved reputation and customer loyalty?
•    Are new market opportunities available?
•    Will new consumer segments be attracted to company products and services?
•    Will overall sales increase from applied business sustainability concepts?
•    How could sustainable actions affect exiting processes?
•    What is the future of material or service supply? 

Our sustainability consulting recommends a proactive approach rather than a reactive response to external factors. Decisive and immediate action to become a business sustainability leader can differentiate the organization and allow your business to move to the forefront to capture additional market share. 

It is time to be philosophical about climate change?

With apologies to another ancient Mediterranean civilization, is it useful — when in Greece – to do as the Greeks might have when it comes to addressing climate change? In other words, with a crisis that demands such urgent and widespread human action, do we have time to be philosophical?

Dr. Ole Faergeman, a renowned Danish cardiologist and co-chair of a groundbreaking international conference on the intersection between sustainable agriculture and land use, human nutrition, and climate protection opening this week in Olympia, Greece, has invoked Aristotle when trying to make sense of ongoing challenges to mobilize people globally on climate change. Certainly, Aristotle had no concept of global warming, but some of his ideas may help us with our own.

In addition to the political, journalistic, and economic challenges that have shaped our unwillingness to acknowledge the current and future impacts of climate change on our lives, persuades Faergeman, we may also be confounded by a certain “giddiness” as we stare into the abyss of time, both past and future. Climate scientists have shown again and again the alarming rates of atmospheric greenhouse gases today versus not only other times in human history but also prehistoric time. But does science’s ability to help us see eons into the past and to project decades, even centuries into the future hurt us more than it helps us?

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SOCAP Update

Mission Markets Blog

SOCAP really hit its stride here on Tuesday.  With even more sessions on the schedule across twelve parallel conference tracks, it was even more difficult to decide where to go when.

Once again you can find complete coverage of these sessions on the main SOCAP site and once again Mission Markets offers you a few highlights here.

With so many excellent choices, it was tough to decide which was the best talk of the day.  But after much deliberation the Mission Markets Team voted for the session on “Mapping the Space of Marketplaces”, which just happened to feature Mission Markets CEO Mike Van Patten.

To those of you who might accuse us of prejudice, we ask you to consider that CNBC and Yahoo! Finance also selected Mike’s contribution as its featured SOCAP coverage of the day!

To be fair, Mike was not alone on the stage of the Cowell Auditorium, SOCAP’s largest and most highly featured venue.  The panel also included representatives from Microplace, NeXii, and The Hoop.

After brief individual introductions of these variations on the theme of impact-driven marketplaces, there was a highly interactive discussion on the state of the on-line market space.

Some of the most significant ideas from that discussion included the challenges of working in what has historically been a highly fragmented investment space, the importance of the adoption of standards, and predictions for the volume of transactions to increase dramatically in the very near future.

Another hidden gem in today’s jam-packed schedule was the “Deep Dive Into the Evergreen Cooperative Initiative.”  This panel brought together the Rockefeller Foundation, the Cleveland Foundation and Veris Wealth Management to share their promising new model for revitalizing urban neighborhoods in Cleveland.

Cleveland is a city clearly suffering from all the social and economic ills that plagued rust-belt cities across the midwest.  But the city is fighting back with new cooperative businesses that not only generate desperately needed new jobs and services for local anchor institutions, but also build ownership and wealth for communities where the median income is less than $20,000.

This strategy develops businesses that not only generate jobs but the opportunity for residents to have a financial stake in the companies that are rebuilding their community.  The Evergreen Initiative is about connecting anchor institutions to the businesses that generate jobs and wealth.  We hope SOCAP invites them back next year to report on their progress.

Tomorrow is Wednesday and SOCAP’s swan song, at least for 2010.  As in previous years, the last day’s format is wide-open, with the agenda set mainly by the attendees themselves.

Anything can happen in such an environment, so please stay tuned to this channel for our report on how SOCAP’s final day unfolds.

- The Mission Markets Team

Energy and Transportation: Bicycle Night

World Centric hosts a weekly series of films (many of them critically acclaimed and award winning) & speakers to increase our awareness of the many issues confronting our planet – issues of globalization, environmental destruction, economic and social justice, peace, consumption, biodiversity, sustainable alternatives etc.

October 8 – Bicycle Night – Enjoy some great short films about how cities from Bogota to Copenhagen are working to make their communities bike friendly. Residents are lowering carbon footprints, getting healthier, and enjoying life more.
 
Free Friday Night Film Series at World Centric, 7:30 – 9:30 P.M.
 
World Centric Community Space Wheelchair Accessible
2121 Staunton Court, Palo Alto, CA 94306

How to Jump over the Hurdle of Living Green

Within our sustainability consulting, we hear a number of opposing comments to sustainable living.  Some of the most frequent comments we hear from clients and peers are:

  “There is just too much effort involved in living a sustainable lifestyle.
I can’t afford to make sustainable changes.  Sustainable living does not apply to my life.  I am already living a green lifestyle.”

 Whether in business or in your personal life, sustainability is a personal journey that does not have an end or have a state of completion.  Too often we find our clients focused on the “top of the mountain.”  They become overly concerned with the gap between where they are and a far-reaching reference point or comparison they have defined for themselves. 

 When clients first come to me, one of the first questions I ask them is, “What motivates you to go green?”   I’m always inspired by the answers.  A most common response is, “I want to do my part.”    The “my” in “my part” is about responsibility – personal responsibility.  That can mean eating responsibly for heath purposes, saving energy to save money and resources, or taking eco action at work to build a better vision for the company and the community in which it operates.

 So a personal sustainability plan begins with an individual accepting responsibility to explore, discover and create powerfully in one’s life.  As a sustainability consultant, my work is to direct that focus with an environmental mindset.  How does that happen?  By encouraging clients to:

 •    Define and focus on sustainability concepts that are uniquely inspiring to that individual.
•    Be aware and try to limit external comparisons as a means for defining action.
•    Incorporate sustainable actions that easily fit into your current lifestyle.
•    Place actions that become difficult on the shelf until they match your lifestyle.
•    Focus more on the process and less on the results of sustainable living.
•    Remember that it will never all be done.
•    Find the joy in making sustainable changes.

 It’s important to note, a personal sustainability plan is a journey: you never get it done and its continually evolving.  Creating personal benchmarks and celebrating personal achievements is important for long term motivation.  A rewarding day for me is sharing in the celebration of a client’s success!