Roughly 2,000 brand leaders and entrepreneurs engaged in sustainability, corporate social responsibility, green technology and more have gathered at Paradise Point Resort in San Diego, CA, to share ideas, collaborate and drive the movement "From Revolution to Renaissance."
A spirit of intelligent optimism has permeated the small, palm tree-lined island in the middle of Mission Bay — the belief that business can, should and must be better. Just as centuries ago, increasing openness and liberation of thought brought about the Renaissance that raised Europe out of the Dark Ages, a growing movement of leaders from the for-profit and non-profit worlds are embracing the best of human ingenuity to affect real, positive change.
Throughout the week, thinkers and doers from industries running the gamut from retail and manufacturing to media and social entrepreneurship will collaborate, educate and learn through several workshops, plenaries, break-out sessions and social events.
William McDonough, renowned sustainability guru and author of the paradigm-shifting Cradle to Cradle, will present ideas from his new book, The Upcycle: Beyond Sustainability — Designing for Abundance, which draws on the lessons gained from 10 years of putting the Cradle to Cradle concept into practice.
Attendees also will hear from Paulette Frank, VP of Sustainability at Johnson & Johnson; Bea Perez, Chief Sustainability Officer at Coca-Cola; Jonathan Wolfson, CEO of Solazyme; Tensie Whelan, President of Rainforest Alliance and dozens more.
For the mechanically inclined, BMW i ActiveEs will be available for test drives by attendees starting Tuesday. While these cars are not currently available to the public, SB’13 participants will get a sneak peek into the future of electric vehicles.
Also this week, the Sustainable Brands Innovation Open competition will reach its exciting conclusion as the 11 semi-finalists contend for the grand prize of $5,000 presented by Target, access to Fenton’s creative program process called Active Idea, a free pass to SB’14 and several other perks. Some of the finalists include Fenugreen, Thread, LaborVoices, Back to the Roots and the Isidore Electronics Recycling.
To help attendees connect and navigate the conference and program, SB’13 has has debuted the SB '13 Mobile App, which is free to download. As always, for those unable to attend, much of the conference will be available through the SB’13 Livestream.
Last year’s Revolution has grown into a 21st Century Renaissance — whether you are here with us in San Diego or tuning in from around the world, welcome to Sustainable Brands ’13!
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Founder & Principal Consultant, Hower Impact
Mike Hower is the founder of Hower Impact — a boutique consultancy delivering best-in-class strategic communication advisory and support for corporate sustainability, ESG and climate tech.
Published Jun 3, 2013 5pm EDT / 2pm PDT / 10pm BST / 11pm CEST