Brynn McNally
Brynn McNally is tagged in 104 stories.
Page 1 of 6.
Organizational Governance /
“What comes to mind when you think of millennials in the workplace?” Bethan Harris, strategist and collaborator at Collectively and the League of Intrapreneurs (LI), asked during her Tuesday afternoon session at SB’16 Copenhagen.
- 8 years ago
Innovation & Technology /
The “musical chairs of leadership” can be a huge obstacle to embedding sustainability in the private sector. An average CMO remains in position for just 18 months, Thomas Kolster, aka “Mr. Goodvertising,” told SB’16 Copenhagen attendees on Tuesday afternoon. Sustainability teams also face the challenge of translating their work into the language of finance, and cultivating consistent C-suite buy-in. We must work and collaborate more closely together, Kolster reiterated, or we risk limiting the sustainability movement to a pursuit of the few.
- 8 years ago
Marketing & Communications /
“Purpose is like Pokémon - everybody is chasing it and nobody knows why,” “Mr. Goodvertising,” Thomas Kolster, mused at the start of the Tuesday morning plenary session at SB’16 Copenhagen.
Articulating purpose is central to modern branding. And in a world where the majority of market value is drawn from intangible assets, “brand is king,” Kolster said.
- 8 years ago
New Metrics /
In a whitepaper released this summer, JetBlue explores how building wider purpose into brands yields competitive advantage. “The Matter with Metrics: Measuring the ROI of Sustainability” presents a four-pronged framework to creating and measuring authentic sustainability programs and consumer messaging.I spoke with Nancy Elder, VP of Communications at JetBlue and co-author of the paper, about how to bake sustainability into business models and reap its multiple financial benefits.
- 9 years ago
Innovation & Technology /
Today is the launch of the second annual Cradle to Cradle Product Design Challenge, which calls upon designers to innovate products for the circular economy. Participants will be awarded up to $6,000 for their designs that creatively eliminate the concept of waste.
- 9 years ago
Stakeholder Trends and Insights /
A new study from the University of Bonn finds that consumers are willing to pay more for products with a Fair Trade logo, and they also perceive them to taste better. Published last week in Frontiers in Neuroscience, the research identifies potential neural mechanisms that explain why Fair Trade products are evaluated more positively.
- 9 years ago
Materials & Packaging /
We know from the emerging discipline of biomimicry that natural systems can stimulate sustainable designs for human use. Two recent innovations use trees for inspiration and materials in unconventional products that may revolutionize very different industries: large-scale metal production, and battery technology to suit cars and wearable devices.
- 9 years ago
Innovation & Technology /
A new study published in the journal Theoretical and Applied Climatology examines contrarian climate science — the 3 percent of studies questioning the existence and human causes of climate change — and finds they include critical mistakes in selection and interpretation of data.The authors tried to replicate the results of 38 examples of contrarian climate research, selected for their high visibility and their arrival at different conclusions than consensus climate studies.
- 9 years ago
Consumer Behavior Change /
Recent studies suggest consumers are increasingly motivated to buy sustainable products, especially the rising generation of socially motivated millennials — that’s the headline in the sustainable business community. But we also know that it’s difficult to motivate consumers to act upon their best intentions. They may state their preference to buy organic, ethically produced products in the abstract, but their actual choice may be different at the point of purchase.
- 9 years ago
Innovation & Technology /
From startup designers to major retailers, the fashion world continues to battle our culture of fast fashion and wasteful wardrobes with innovative designs and recycling efforts.
- 9 years ago
Supply Chain /
Coca-Cola announced today it is on track to meet its 2020 water replenishment goal five years ahead of schedule. The company expects it will safely replenish 100 percent of the water it uses in beverages and production through community water projects by the end of 2015, fulfilling its aspirational commitment set in 2007. If it succeeds, it will be the first food and beverage company to replenish all the water it uses.
- 9 years ago
Consumer Behavior Change /
A coalition of British NGOs and businesses is collaborating on a call for concerted action to curb littering. In a letter to the Guardian, leaders from national companies such as the British Soft Drinks Association and British Plastics Association, as well as global brands McDonald’s and Wrigley’s, are urging the government to develop a comprehensive anti-littering plan.
- 9 years ago
Materials & Packaging /
This week, researchers at George Washington University (GWU) unveiled a new method to convert carbon dioxide into nanoscale carbon fibers that may serve as valuable future building materials (think: aircrafts, fitness equipment and sports cars), as well as another potential weapon against climate change.The new technology captures airborne carbon dioxide and employs an electrochemical process to convert it to carbon nanofibers and oxygen. The method is more efficient and potentially significantly cheaper than existing methods, according to Stuart Licht, a professor of chemistry at GWU.
- 9 years ago
Organizational Governance /
A study published this month finds that the UK is the worst-performing European country in terms of food waste, while its leading waste-reduction charity, Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP), saw its government funding cut 38 percent last year.
- 9 years ago
Circular Economy /
The circular economy is launching into space. Researchers at Clemson University in South Carolina recently secured funding from NASA to create a closed-loop system on a spacecraft that could turn astronauts’ feces into food, fertilizer and other useful materials for long space flights.
“Synthetic Biology for Recycling Human Waste into Food, Nutraceuticals, and Materials: Closing the Loop for Long-Term Space Travel” was awarded a $200,000 per year grant, for up to three years, to tackle the space agency’s challenge to feed humans cramped into a spacecraft for months at a time.
- 9 years ago
Circular Economy /
A new report from Trillium Asset Management finds that California’s two major public pension funds, the largest in the nation, lost a combined $5.1 billion on fossil fuel-related investments last year.
The California Public Employee’s Retirement System (CalPERS) posted a 28 percent decline on its oil and gas portfolio, while the California State Teachers’ Retirement System (CalSTRS) lost 27 percent on a similar set of investments for the fiscal year ending June 30th. Over the same period, most other stock investments held by the two pension funds rose.
- 9 years ago
Circular Economy /
Hey Coca-Cola, how about redirecting your advertising budget for a year to help save the planet?That is the ask of the group Buy the World a Hope, an “independent group of people who believe that there must be new ways to substantially help the world, to work with the system and benefit the planet.”Buy the World a Hope aims to revolutionize marketing. Its website, available in 15 languages, asks visitors to sign an open letter to the CEO of Coca-Cola, urging the company to quit its $3 billion advertising spending budget for one year and direct that money toward protecting rainforests.
- 9 years ago
Innovation & Technology /
A new shoe based on textile biomimicry promises easy recycling and soft, robust textures with a single heat-treated material and 3D printers.Designer Amno Liao from the Royal College of Art in London has created the Bio-Knit shoe, which is knitted on a 3-D knitting machine and then treated to harden its various parts. Heat is used to change the stiffness of the threads, so a semi-rigid heel and sock-like textures are produced from the same material. Creating a shoe without composites, as most footwear contains, will dramatically reduce recycling costs.
- 9 years ago
Circular Economy /
AT&T announced a new program today that will help California customers minimize a major source of water waste: leaks.Customers that sign up for AT&T Digital Life and add a Water Detection Package will receive alerts on their mobile devices when a sensor detects the presence of water in a designated area in their home. In addition, the AT&T Digital Life Water Control service not only detects water leaks, but allows users to shut off the water source remotely from their mobile phone or tablet.
- 9 years ago
Supply Chain /
The Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) is soliciting feedback on a new traceability tool that verifies seafood supply chain transactions on a global scale. A public consultation period is taking place from August 16th to September 18th, during which industry members are encouraged to offer their expertise and comments to shape the tool.
- 9 years ago