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.

Wondering How You Are Going To Prepare Your Business For The New Sustainability Officer Legislation?

Students of the Sustainability Officer Training will be provided a strong introduction to the Greening process, shown how to install a program that merits respect, and will actually save the company a great deal of money. Green is also about efficiencies, and we know how to make Green pay. This is a self-paced course that can be completed in a week or two of part-time study. Video and downloadable text is immediately available upon sign up. You will leave with the knowledge, the ability, and the plan to turn your company into an Authentically Green Business.

This is the first online training for Sustainability (Green) Officer Training. This will kick off on Monday November 9th, 2009, and there is no firm time limit to complete the course although we schedule a two week cycle as a normal experience. There are a series of recorded training classes that the student may take at their leisure, and three live classes that will be archived in the event that the student misses the broadcast.

Upon registrations, the student will receive access to pre-class orientation materials. Prior to class, the student will be able to download and print the study materials. Upon completion of a prescribe set of tasks, the Sustainability Officer Certificate will be sent to the student. This is a great credential on your professional resume.

We are limiting this class, so it is very important to make your reservation right away. Due to bandwidth requirements, we must buy the Internet capability in advance.

Upon registration, you will receive notice of your reservation and some early recommendations that will help you prepare for a very rewarding experience as the classes begin.

The registration fee is $250, and the remaining $1345 is due and payable by the start of class. We provide a 100% money back guarantee for all students if you find that the course is not everything we had promised. We fully expect that you will be exceedingly pleased with the volume of information, professional content, and breadth of subject matter.

Our goal is EMPOWERMENT, and this is done by providing a tremendous education on practical environmental issues that every business needs to know.　 Starting from the vantage point of vital facts and concepts, the program leads into a clear path to sustainable business transition.

Sustainability Officer Training offers a broad range of topics that cover every element of Green business applications.　 The goal is not to make the Sustainability Officer an expert in all subjects, but to make　this　person　knowledgeable.　 That well-rounded knowledge is the missing ingredient in most Green committees.

Your company will Go Green. There is no doubt about that. What is unknown is how well or how poorly the Greening is done.　 If it is done poorly, your company will eventually have to return to the task to do it again and again until it is right.　 It just makes sense to Go Green the right way since it is relatively easy to do at this time.

As a trained Sustainability Officer returns to the workplace, there are noticeable changes. The sense of mission is now merged with business success. Green officers have learned about the triple bottom line:　People, planet, and profits. At this point, the concept of Green is a clear asset to the business because the Green efficiency factor will increase company productivity and year-end profits.

Sustainability Officer Training is time well-spent, and it will be more informative and practical than any Green conference your people might attend.　 Our subject matter is direct, effective, and is designed to provide a clear path to a authentically Green business. If you want to sign up or learn more go to www.sustainabilityofficertraining.com.

The Sustainability/Green Officer Training is taught through an online program that provides clear instruction for Green business operation.　 For too long, the Green transition has been left to the best efforts of a few appointed people who had no formal training in environmental principles. Good intentions that are hampered by limited information will lead to a program that lacks integrity.

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Quite the feat: CRMS students send 500 pairs of used shoes to needy souls around the world

Post Independent (John Stroud) Glenwood Springs, CO – CARBONDALE, Colorado — Friends and fellow Colorado Rocky Mountain School juniors Kelsey Bohannon and JJ Worley recently found a way to help needy people around the world, and keep what otherwise would be trash out of area landfills.

Through the Soles4Souls shoe charity, they collected some 500 pairs of used shoes from throughout the Roaring Fork Valley. The shoes will be sent to a warehouse in Nevada, and eventually shipped to villages around the world where people cannot afford to buy shoes themselves.

“I heard about it and it just interested me as a way for people do something for those in need without sending money,” said Bohannon, 16, who lives in Glenwood Springs.

“Some people don’t like giving money, because they’re not sure what’s really going to happen to it,” she said. “There’s not much else you can do with used shoes, though. You know someone is going to be wearing them who needs them.”

Worley, also 16, from Carbondale, looks at it as a “one person’s trash is another person’s treasure” sort of approach to global charity.

“People really do get tired of donating money. This is a way to get rid of something you’d be throwing away anyway, and for a good cause,” she said.

Bohannon and Worley put up flyers around the valley and set up collection boxes at Summit Canyon Mountaineering in Glenwood Springs and at Dos Gringos Burritos in Carbondale.

“They asked me to come empty the box at Summit because it was overflowing,” Bohannon said. “The shoes filled up my car.”

Once they collected all the shoes they realized it would cost $230 to ship them to Nevada, even after the 80 percent charity discount from UPS. So they approached the Aspen Skiing Company, and it covered the shipping cost.

“We didn’t even think about the money part of it,” Worley said. “We really want to thank the Skico for helping us out.”

They received some interesting shoes along the way, including some Go-Go boots, a pair of snowboard boots, and ballet slippers.

“Some of them are pretty fancy shoes, and not very used at all,” Bohannon said.

Miser’s Mercantile, a local second-hand store, also donated some of the shoes it had in stock, and the American Legion Ladies Auxiliary collected a box of shoes as well.

The students may do another drive in the future, but their collection efforts are done for now. However, Independence Run and Hike, a local running and outdoor gear store, is also a collection location for Soles4Souls.

The store, located in the Gateway Plaza at Highway 133 and Cowen Drive in Carbondale, is collecting “gently worn” footwear and/or monetary donations to help ship the shoes.

The shoes sometimes go to victims of a natural disaster, or who are subject to living in extreme poverty, according to the organization’s website, www.giveshoes.org.

“It is estimated that Americans have 1.5 billion pairs of unused shoes lying in their closets,” it notes. “The charity can use each and every one of these pairs to make a tangible difference in someone’s life.”

Independence Run and Hike owner Brion After said he is glad to contribute, both in the charitable sense and because of the reduced environmental impact of recycling used shoes.

“We believe in taking care of the land that takes care of us,” he said. “Partnering with Soles4Souls enables the local running and hiking community to be environmental stewards and assist those in need throughout the world.”  jstroud@postindependent.com

For more information on Colorado Rocky Mountain School please contact lraleigh@crms.org

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Moody’s Mega Math Challenge: Wall Street’s Strategic Philanthropy

“Want to know if the stimulus act will work or whether ethanol is the right choice for U.S. energy independence? Need advice on how to beat Wall Street?” So asked the Society of Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM) at the annual Moody’s Mega Math Challenge. For the past three years, Moody’s has awarded college scholarships and summer internships to the high school students with the best answers to these questions. In 2010, Moody’s is increasing to $100,000 of scholarships.

What drives a Wall Street firm to such generosity, especially now when every dollar they spend is accounted for to shareholders and the board? I have been working with corporate leaders for the past several years to help them shift their philanthropy and their service programs in order to advance the companies’ own purposes while also benefiting the community. This is the only way that corporate social responsibility will actually be effective and sustainable.

And as I reported from the Clinton Global Initiative in

2008

and

2009

here in my posts, the tide has turned.

See continuation here…http://bit.ly/3NvtsR

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More Sustainability Tips from Colorado Rocky Mountain School

Problem:On average each of our high school day students drives approx 13.4 miles per day coming and going to campus getting approximately 27.2 miles to the gallon. Will all 67 day students combined, we are using over 80 gallons of gas each day and spending over $350 daily. While those numbers may not sound that significant, when you calculate them out over the course of the school year, it results in 13,200 gallons of gas being consumed costing over $59,000.

Solution: Since many of our day students live close to one another (whether it be in Glenwood Sprigs, Aspen, Basalt or Carbondale) if they would all pair up and carpool to and from school together it could save over $30,000 in gas consumption annually.

For more information go to http://www.crms.org/culture/sustainability/

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Sustainability Tips from Colorado Rocky Mountain School Students

Problem: The US throws away almost 50% of their food every year. That is approximately 52 tons of food annually. Just 5% of America’s food leftovers alone could feed 4 million people for a day. At CRMS even though we compost all of our waste, we are still disposing of 250 pounds of compostable waste per week. So while we are keeping it out of the landfill, we are still wasting it.

Solution: While we no longer use cafeteria trays at CRMS as it encourages overloading. We still need to remember to take only as much food as you can finish. It is better to go back for seconds than to take too much food the first time and end up throwing it away.

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Colorado Rocky Mountain School Work Crews offer meaningful work & create sustainable lifestyles

Colorado Rocky Mountain School Work Crews provide an avenue for students to take leadership roles and initiate change on campus toward creating a more sustainable life. The Recycling Work Crew maintains recycling stations in all the dorms and major buildings. They collect recycled materials and take them to the local recycling center. In the Garden Work Crew, students work to provide the school community with healthy organic food that is grown in a manner that minimizes the toll on the land.

The Sustainability Work Crew brainstorms and problem-solves ways to improve our school’s efficiency. From educating the campus to adding weather stripping to all the obscure doorways on campus, the Sustainability Work Crew takes a variety of steps to minimize needless electrical, food, or heat waste. This Work Crew program allows passionate students to initiate change. Various student-led ideas have included: creating a sustainability dorm competition, a sustainability newsletter (humorously named The Toilet Paper), and a weekly “Green Tip” announcement to the entire school; changing our cleaning supplies to all-green products, measuring the campus energy usage, insulating the windows and doors, and researching better methods to improve our sustainability. While this work crew’s primary goal is to focus on sustainability, the rest of the work crews on campus (from Ranching to Electricity) also act under the green umbrella of sustainability.

Colorado Rocky Mountain School Awarded Environmental “Captain Planet” Grant

Captain Planet cartoon, is proud to announce that Colorado Rocky Mountain School has recently been awarded an educational grant of $2,500. These funds will be used towards the Colorado Rocky Mountain School Organic Garden Learning Center project.

“We are thrilled to present this award to Colorado Rocky Mountain School,” says Taryn Murphy, Programs Director. “We receive thousands of submissions each year, and therefore have to be very selective to whom we award funding. We feel that this project deserves exploration and attention and wish Colorado Rocky Mountain School the best of luck. It is our hope that our combined efforts will educate, empower, involve and invest today’s youth to cultivate a better tomorrow.”

The Colorado Rocky Mountain School Organic Garden Learning Center is a great asset to not only the school and our students, but the community as well. CRMS is committed to teaching our students and other community members how to grow and harvest organic foods in a sustainable, and energy and water efficient manner. “We are thrilled that a national foundation is partnering with us on this project,“ says Linda Halloran, Director of the CRMS Organic Garden Learning Center.

The CRMS Organic Garden Learning Center expansion project will allow the school to double the amount of food produced to 40% of the produce consumed on campus (30,000 pounds annually), while decreasing the school’s carbon footprint. The project also includes a remodel of the recycling center and the Recycling Program.

About CRMS

Colorado Rocky Mountain School, located in Carbondale, is an independent high school founded in 1953. The school combines college preparatory academics, outdoor and work experiences, arts, community service and campus life in a comprehensive educational approach that develops strong students who are engaged global citizens. For more information visit www.crms.org

About The Captain Planet Foundation

Captain Planet Foundation is located at 133 Luckie Street NW in Atlanta, Ga. They can be reached by phone at 404.522.4270. Founded in 1991, The Captain Planet Foundation (CPF) was created to support hands-on, environmental projects for youth. CPF is committed to making a global impact with projects throughout the United States and around the world. In 2007, CPF funded 138 hands-on, environmental education projects spanning across 38 states and internationally in Canada, England and Costa Rica. We have done projects in all 50 United States. For more information visit www.captainplanetfdn.org.

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Visible Light Solar Technologies Partners with Bosque School

The Bosque School Sheds Light on Student Education with Visible Light Solar Technologies.  Bosque retrofitted 30 incandescent exterior lights – all of the main parking lot and driveway lights – on its campus with Visible Light Solar’s solar/LED lights.  By adding solar and LED exterior lights, the school estimates it can increase its energy savings up to 99 percent.

Visible Light Solar Technologies is an intelligent solar and LED lighting technology company. We provide the first commercial and industrial hybrid solar/LED lighting solutions that reduce energy consumption by up to 85%, dramatically lower maintenance costs and deliver highly programmable, true-color illumination. Visible Light     Solar’s inaugural product line of retrofit solar/LED and LED lighting applications are designed for businesses that want to retrofit their metal halide and mercury vapor lighting fixtures while reusing their existing light poles, heads, casings and wiring. Visible Light   Solar Technologies’ products are available nationwide through our Certified Installation Partner Program.

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Bon Appétit develops a guide for aspiring student farmers to help build business relationships (Video)

Bon Appétit Management Company has developed a guide for aspiring student farmers to help them build good business relationships