PowerShift 2011

I wasn't able to make it down to DC for PowerShift 2011 - but have had a great time following the action via livestreams and various twitter accounts.  Here's a quick sampling of some of the great videos and photos coming out of this movement:

Recap:




Taking it to the Streets:

Press Coverage: 

Coverage in the Washington Post, LA Times, New York Times, HuffingtonPost, CNN, Politico,The Nation.


Bill McKibben's Speech:




Al Gore's Speech: 




Van Jones's Speech:




Shutting Down BP Station: 



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All Hands On Deck - 300 years in 300 seconds

Great video from the Post Carbon Institute, explaining how we find ourselves in the funnel and how we can navigate our way through to sustainability.



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350 Takes on the US Chamber of Commerce

I picked up the video below via GOOD.  It's about 350.org's "The US Chamber Doesn't Speak for Me" campaign, and getting people amped for PowerShift.  Enjoy:



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The Most Important Company on Earth - Happy Birthday Interface

The latest video from Ray Anderson, founder of Interface, shared a powerful message with his team yesterday, on the 38th anniversary of the company's founding.




All of our thoughts and prayers are with Ray - stay strong and enjoy the view from the top of Mount Sustainability.  Thanks so much for all you've done for so many - in the current and future generations - through your commitment, leadership, courage and inspiration.  And thanks to all the good people of Interface working hard day after day to climb that mountain.

For more on the Interface story, check out Ray's latest book, Confessions of a Radical Industrialist.

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2010 ACUPCC Annual Report

The 2010 Annual Report of the American College & University Presidents' Climate Commitment (ACUPCC) was released yesterday.  Click on the icon below to flip through the e-version.

It's hard to believe it's been four years we've been working on this - and it's amazing to see how far these institutions - 677 of them to date - have come in managing their carbon emissions, raising awareness, engaging their local communities and providing the education and research needed to lead the transition to a low-carbon economy as safely as possible.



To see which schools have joined this network, and to check out the details of their emissions profiles, and their climate action plans for reducing those emissions, go to the ACUPCC Reporting System at www.acupcc.org/reportingsystem.  There you can search by school, or institution type, or state and click through to all of the greenhouse gas inventories and climate action plans.

Check out the press release announcing the report - there are some great quotes from the co-chairs of the ACUPCC Steering Committee, like this one from Mary Spangler, Chancellor of Houston Community College:

Across the country, colleges and universities of all types and sizes are rethinking what it means to prepare graduates for the 21st century economy. We are working with partners from the private and public sectors to ensure our students gain the necessary skills and experience to help create the green economy.

I'm very proud of the team at Second Nature who worked to pull this beauty together, and so appreciative of all the people at the ACUPCC institutions who provided the content and are working diligently every day to fulfill this commitment.

Please share this far and wide and support your alma mater in their education for sustainability efforts!

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The Natural Step Canada - 2011 Sustainability Courses

For all of our Canadian friends, check-out the upcoming courses being offered by The Natural Step Canada:


Sustainability for Leaders Course - Level 1: Foundations

• Toronto, ON June 13-14, 2011
• Montréal, QC 11-12 octobre 2011
• Edmonton, AB October 13-14, 2011
• Vancouver, BC December 8-9, 2011
  

Sustainability for Leaders Course - Level 2: Practitioners

• Banff, AB July 11-13, 2011 (in-person session)
  

Integrated Community Sustainability Planning Course

• Vancouver, BC June 15-17, 2011 (in-person session)
  

All the information can be found here.

Of particular interest, the Level 2 course will be offered for the first time!  This will be led by Chad Park and Pong Leung, two principal advisors and two of the founders of TNS Canada.  They each have a wealth of experience applying the framework in various settings, and I recommend checking it out if you’re looking for professional development specifically linked to application of the Framework.

For more information, please contact Kim Larocque at klarocque@naturalstep.ca or 613.748.3001 x228.

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Wal-Mart & the Green Death Star

People often think sustainability is just about the environment.  The picture below is probably one of the best illustrations of why social sustainability is really at the heart of the matter.  It's not about "saving the planet" - it's about saving the humans, and recognizing that a healthy, vibrant, resilient biosphere is a prerequisite for a thriving human society.

We need to ensure ecological sustainability if we are to achieve social sustainability; but if we if systematically undermine our social sustainability, it doesn't really matter if we achieve ecological sustainability  (in terms of creating a sustainable human society; I'd argue it still matters given the inherent value living systems, human or not).  Running the Death Star on solar power doesn't do much to help the light side.

Photo credit: Stéfan Le Dû 

Wal-Mart is again running into this conundrum in the real world.  A class action lawsuit, Dukes v. Walmart goes to the Supreme Court today to see if the class certification stands, which would make it the largest in history - 1.6 million women claiming gender discrimination.  Regardless of the outcome, the damage has been done (for both the employees and the WMT brand).  It's another example of Wal-Mart hitting the funnel walls - like it has time and again due to its labor practices and community impacts.

Wal-Mart has great "sustainability" goals - and due to its sheer size and influence, has done an incredible amount to drive positive ecological solutions - but their sustainability goals are environmental, and don't sufficiently integrate social impacts.  A concerted effort on social sustainability by Wal-Mart - supporting fair labor practices, fair trade practices, healthy living products, and local economies - could have a huge positive impact globally, much the same way their environmental goals are.  I'm not convinced the big-box business model could ever be truly sustainable without a radical rethinking, but I certainly commend their efforts to move that direction.  I hope they continue to do so, and focus more on social sustainability.  Hopefully this class action suit will help make that happen.

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