Stories About Systems Shift
Found 139 stories. Page 7 of 7.
GM Recycles Water Bottles to Make Chevy Equinox Part
PRESS RELEASE - General Motors is turning its employees’ recycled water bottles into a new life: noise-reducing fabric insulation that covers the Chevrolet Equinox engine. The bottles – collected from five of its Michigan facilities – are also being turned into air filtration components and insulation in coats for the homeless community. Given its drive to zero waste, all of GM’s global facilities recycle their water bottles. However, the bottles collected at the five locations are now funneled into its “Do Your Part” project, where 11 businesses collaborate to give them a second life.
Companies Face 71% Likelihood of Finding Modern Slavery in Supply Chains
SUPPLY CHAIN - 71 percent of companies believe there is a likelihood of modern slavery occurring at some point within their supply chains, according to research conducted by the Ashridge Centre for Business and Sustainability at Hult International Business School and the Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI).
The New Copernican Revolution: Fritjof Capra on the Shift to 'The Systems View of Life'
LEADERSHIP - Fritjof Capra is one of the world’s leading thinkers in systems theory, and the author of many influential books, such as The Tao of Physics; The Web of Life: A New Synthesis of Mind and Matter; The Turning Point: Science, Society and the Rising Culture; The Hidden Connections: A Science for Sustainable Living; and Learning from Leonardo: Decoding the Notebooks of a Genius.
The Implications of an Emerging Corporate Conscience for Sustainable Business Metrics: Part 16
NEW METRICS - In 15 earlier parts of this series, Claire Sommer and I developed 28 pitfalls in the sustainable business metrics field, based on the experiences of many mostly non-business fields. (Find them here.)
How to Drive Business Model Transformation from Inside Your Company
ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE - I attended a half-dozen panels during the first three days at SB ‘15 San Diego, each addressing a specific business function. I listened closely as experts shared case studies on incorporating sustainability into marketing, supply chain, employee engagement, etc. But it wasn’t until this Thursday morning breakout session, on the final day of the conference, that we finally seemed to tie it all together.
Philips, Dell, ASU Discuss How to Fill Existing Gaps in Shift Toward Circular Business Models
THE NEXT ECONOMY - This #SB15sd Wednesday afternoon session on the circular economy convened a frank and open discussion about what is working, and what isn’t, when it comes to tweaking existing business ecosystems to accommodate circular models. Panelists compared notes on attempts to create new models, highlighted existing gaps, and discussed their visions for potential solutions.
How to Intervene in a System: A Practical Case Study of the Sustainable Surf Movement
PRODUCT, SERVICE & DESIGN INNOVATION - “We’re going to talk about systems change,” began Pam Wilhelms, owner of Wilhelms Consulting Group. Wilhelms moderated a panel of changemakers that have driven sustainability in the surf industry. “We don’t change by top-down, we change by finding leverage points,” she said.
How to Build a Branded Peer-to-Peer Marketplace
THE NEXT ECONOMY - Couldn't make ittoSB '15 San Diego?View this session'spresentationhereand catch up onthe week's
The Key to Transformational Change Leadership? Holonomic Thinking
LEADERSHIP - “What happens when you cut a hologram in half?” Maria Moraes Robinson and Simon Robinson asked as a prelude to sharing what holonomic thinking means. When you cut a photograph in half, you get two separate images, but when you cut a hologram in half, the whole image can still be seen in each piece. Holonomic thinking represents a shift in consciousness from understanding an organization as a collection of individual parts, departments or programs, seen separately, to seeing the organization as a whole that expresses itself and comes into presence in the various individual parts. It means “standing in front of a customer or partner and being able to express the organization as a whole, being different and at the same time being the same.”
Ellen MacArthur on Leading a Complex System of Global Change
PRODUCT, SERVICE & DESIGN INNOVATION - Since Ellen MacArthur made the transition in 2009 from world-record-breaking sailor to champion of the circular economy, the Ellen MacArthur Foundation has become a driving force behind shifting our approach to business away from that of take-make-waste to one centered on resilience, reuse and optimality.
To Recycle or Not to Recycle: The Economics of Garbage
THE NEXT ECONOMY - People are confused about recycling because they complain that the entire process – from labeling, to which bin is which, to what your municipality accepts - makes it difficult to determine a material’s recyclability. This issue is especially common when consumers are dealing with some of the more complicated recyclable materials such as plastics, but the question persists: What exactly makes a material recyclable or not? Two very different lenses are often used to determine this: science and economics. Which of these factors is more relevant in revealing a material’s chance of being recyclable? Or is it a combination of both?
The Stewardship Index for Specialty Crops and The Sustainability Consortium Announce Partnership to Align Measurement and Reporting of Sustainable Agriculture
PRESS RELEASE - SAN FRANCISCO, CA – March 2, 2015 – Across fresh food supply chains, businesses are advancing environmental, social and economic values. Balancing production with continually improving conservation stewardship demands an aligned approach to measure and communicate on-farm sustainability in specialty crops (all fruits, nuts, and vegetables). The Stewardship Index for Specialty Crops (SISC) and The Sustainability Consortium® (TSC) are proud to announce a partnership that creates significant progress toward these goals. TSC and SISC have agreed to work toward harmonization of on-farm performance metrics and collaborate together on implementation and innovation projects to encourage stewardship across specialty crop supply chains.
Sustainability as an Emergent Property: What Can We Learn from the Super-Organisms?
COLLABORATION - In the ongoing drive to create and communicate about sustainability in the emerging economy, it can be useful to conceive of sustainability not as a quantifiable end goal, but as an emergent property. An emergent property arises when individual components or actions, combined together, collectively generate a higher-level aggregate experience. Think democracy. Or plague. Or community. One does not "do" sustainability anymore than one "does" community. One co-creates community through all of the little deeds — hosting the potluck, planning the carpool, sharing the tool shed. Like community, sustainability — or any emergent property — arises out of the contributions made and conditions created in service of a shared reality.
Could You Join Unilever, M&S and Nike in #theBigShift?
COLLABORATION - In sustainability, the 'lone wolf' will soon be a thing of the past, as collaboration becomes increasingly necessary to make real changes.In October, Dell outlined its 2020 Legacy of Good plan, but admitted that it wouldn't be able to achieve its ambitious goals alone.Step in #theBIGshift — Forum for the Future's latest (and potentially biggest) initiative aims to transform the key systems that we rely on, and champion the rewards for those businesses and other organizations who are stepping up to the challenge of creating a sustainable future.
The Emerging, Not-for-Profit Economy
THE NEXT ECONOMY - Across numerous countries, the economic contribution of the not-for-profit sector has been on the rise since the late 1990s. In Canada, for example, not-for-profit institutions now contribute 8% of the country’s gross domestic product. Moreover, in the U.S. the not-for-profit (NFP) sector grew significantly faster than the for-profit (FP) sector between 2001-2011, despite the financial crisis of 2008.
Ecosystem Services & Corporate Sustainability: Integrating the Value of Forests Into Business with REDD+
NEW METRICS - Ecosystem services — or the flows of natural capital from the environment into human economies and societies – have traditionally been thought of and treated as ‘free,’ resulting in their mismanagement and degradation. Emerging research is beginning to change this paradigm by quantifying the values of ecosystem service flows — and the implications are becoming especially relevant for corporations.
How Sustainable Is Your Supply Chain?
SUPPLY CHAIN - Beginning this month, Sustainable Brands will launch a new Issues in Focus editorial channel examining sustainable supply chain management.The SB editorial team — with the help of guest editors Dave Meyer of EORM, Tara Norton of BSR and Sam Hummel of the Sustainable Purchasing Leadership Council — are seeking articles, interviews and case studies for publication throughout the year.
BBMG's Raphael Bemporad on How Businesses Can Help Drive Transformational Change [Video]
![BBMG's Raphael Bemporad on How Businesses Can Help Drive Transformational Change [Video]](https://sustainablebrands.com/eddy/mag/story/keyart/6045/conversions/primaryimage-thumb.jpg)
PRODUCT, SERVICE & DESIGN INNOVATION - In this interview from the Sustainable Brands 2013 conference in San Diego, BBMG co-founder Raphael Bemporad discusses the need for businesses to engage consumers in ways that will help drive transformational change.To learn how some brands are driving change, check out our #BrandInnovation channel.
Secretary-General Appoints New Global Compact Board Members, Strengthens Focus on Business Engagement
PRESS RELEASE - Secretary-General Appoints New Global Compact Board Members, Strengthens Focus on Business Engagement (New York, 19 April 2012) – UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has appointed 14 new members to the Global Compact Board, the UN’s highest-level advisory body involving business, civil society, labour and employers organizations.