Building a Better Business Trap

The history of warfare has been one of swords and shields. One groups invents swords, the other shields. One invents armor, the other jousts. With walls came catapults, with trench warfare came air campaigns. The battle for the soul of business has been similar.

The early days of industrialization were brutal for workers. But they soon learned to organize and form unions. The primary way for unions to change the abusive behavior of businesses used to be by holding strikes. These strikes would imperil the workers and harm the economy, but they were effective - until businesses organized to take political power and break the power of striking workers. The triumph of unrestrained commerce began in the 70's and has continued in an era of conservatism since.

Unions remained throughout this time, but their tools were sharpened. Activist boycotts eventually came to replace strikes in many instances. They allowed more people to participate, and as they could be waged by from outside of the boycotted industry, they were less dangerous for workers - until the age of marketing and branding in the 80's and 90's made it more difficult to tarnish the reputation of a company.

Now unions, strikes, and boycotts haven't gone away. They are just being used more selectively. And their limitations are recognized. While punishments are great for getting someone to refrain from doing something, they tend to do a rather shoddy job of inspiring deeper transformations.

Thus buycotts were developed. Now any consumer could participate in the transformation of industry by buying products produced by the most socially and environmentally responsible companies. Of course, this had always been going on to some extent, but the efforts had become concerted. In a sense, the whole health food industry emerged through this trend. So has the clean tech industry which now rivals high tech for venture capital. Buycotts can galvanize energies and thrust the most caring entrepreneurs and employees into positions of leadership and power. And they challenge businesses to aspire to higher standards.

The problem with buycotts, like boycotts, has lain in deception. The budding conscious businesses of the early 80's and 90's were drowned out in the green washing of mega-corporations with mega-advertising budgets. But the web is changing this. At first the changes came through information sharing. Activists would e-mail others about this and that abuse of some business. Then we all experienced information overload.

More recently, this information has come to be systematized. Sites like this one are not only blogging or waging campaigns but organizing comprehensive guides to the behavior of business. We are scoring everything from carbon footprints to percentage of charitable contributions to the number of pending lawsuits waged against a corporation. The political power of industry has proved helpless thus far. This is a movement of shoppers after all, acting in an economy with more perfect information than ever before. So in a world of swords and shields, what comes next?

Theo Horesh, host of the Conscious Business Show, www.reframeamerica.com

Scanning the Scores for Labels of Love

There is a revolution in the consciousness of consumers that is transforming the way each of us shops. It is not just that more of us are doing it on the Internet, nor that there is an infinitely wider array of companies and products to choose from. The revolution is in what we know about what we buy. Conscious consumers are building markets for conscious businesses, and this is transforming the very nature of what it means to do business.

Consider the nutritional labelling of foods. These labels may seem as timelessly present to us today as, say the ubiquitous cell phones and Internet. But it was not until 1990 that the FDA mandated the labelling of nutritional information on food packages with 1990 Nutrition Labelling and Education Act. The law did not go into effect until May 8, 1994. Since that time we have experienced a revolution in the health food industry which only seems to grow stronger with each increase in consumer consciousness. The more we measure, the more things will count.

Almost two decades since the passage of the 1990 Nutritional Labelling Act, the Internet has taken over where the FDA left off. Every passing month seems to bring with it the appearance of another website dedicated to ranking and reviewing products - http://www.ethiscore.com/, http://www.huddler.com/, and yours truly, http://www.visionaryvalues.com/, still in our infancy. Most focus on the social and environmental responsibility of products. And most span across multiple industries. These sites promise to radically transform the way each of us shops.

Like the early nutritional labels, it may be only a small percentage of shoppers who use these sites. But a measly 3% of shoppers is enough to create a substantial market for new products in most industries. And those same 3% can be enough to stain the reputation of habitual green washers. It may be the case that 2 or 3 or 5% of shoppers create not only a base for new products but for new shopping habits as well.

Someday, many of us will shop the aisles of our favorite stores with Blackberries and iPhones in hand, looking up, perhaps scanning, the social and environmental scores of new products in the same we we now read the reviews of books on Amazon or count the stars on Netflix films. Nutritional labels are only the start. Next will come environmental and labor scores, personalized scores according to our values, and ecological impacts. The sites are being developed along with the habits to use them. The question is: how many of us will be doing this, and how will it transform industry?

Going Green, It Computes!

It seems that recent massive increases in energy costs will soon have a positive impact on how energy efficiency gurus interact with IT people and corporate decision makers and government agencies. 

Here's an excerpt from an article on ITworld.com discussing a recent energy efficiency gathering of folks from academia, government & business:

If one message stood out among the others at this week's Green Computing Summit in Washington, DC, it was that going green is no longer just good for the bottom line; it's absolutely necessary. And it's not just the tree huggers who are saying so. Prominent business executives and top ranking federal officials are leading a green revolution that promises to radically change computer technology and the way it is managed.

It may well have been skyrocketing energy prices that first got industry worried about its bottom lines and federal agencies grappling wit their budgets, but concern for the escalating climate crisis was hardly an afterthought. What started as a realization that going green was the easiest way to save money has evolved into a series of federal initiatives jointly aimed at reducing energy consumption and cutting CO2 emissions.

Given industry projections of computer growth, dramatic increases in online data storage and additional floor space that could be required by expanding data centers along with the resultant power and cooling upgrades, energy issues will clearly move from problem to crisis if efforts to bring energy consumption under control are not successful.

Link to the article here: http://www.itworld.com/Tech

Dangerous Beauty!

In a recent online edition of The Earth Times, I came across a press release that indicates that many professionals in the natural beauty industry may be poised to take a giant step forward in establishing standards for that industry. For too many years consumer health has taken a back seat to the bottom line and lack of fortitude on the part of most beauty aid companies.

Here is an excerpt from that press release:

Eli Halliwell, CEO of Jurlique, an independent natural beauty company, was the keynote speaker at the Natural Beauty Summit held in New York on Friday, May 16th. This was the first time the gathering, which previously convened in Paris, had been held in America.

Acknowledging that the natural beauty industry had been characterized in recent weeks by internal controversy over defining standards and certifications, Halliwell called for unity and urged the natural products industry to join together to lobby Washington to ban the ingredients that are considered by natural beauty advocates as dangerous.

This call to action comes at a time when the natural beauty products industry has been struggling to define a standard for natural or organic. Halliwell noted his concern that the industry is not focused on what the consumer wants, or what the consumer ultimately cares about. Halliwell shared with the group that his experience as a CEO and the leader of a company has shown him that the consumer is asking for products that do what they say they will, that are good for them, and that are good for the planet.

Said Halliwell, "Consumers are smart. They can tell when someone in inauthentic and they know good product from bad. Yes, there is certainly value in warning consumers from putting certain ingredients on their skin. And, yes, it is tough for consumers to figure out on their own exactly what is dangerous and what is safe. But spending time trying to define natural or organic is futile and doesn't deliver true value to consumers. The consumer doesn't care. What she cares about is: Does it work? Does it work for me? Is it good for me? Is it good for the Earth?"

Link to the full press release here: http://www.earthtimes.org

New Report: Making Green the New Business as Usual

This week the Environmental Defense Fund released a report entitled: Innovations Review 2008: Making Green the New Business as Usual."  "The report highlights the latest trends and best practices that demonstrate how environmental sustainability efforts are creating new markets, providing competitive advantages and saving companies millions of dollars."

They go on to say that "environmental sustainability is no longer just for eco-brands. It's no longer about complying with regulations or securing good press. It's about saving through efficiency, creating new markets and gaining competitive advantage."

Link to Press Release: 

http://www.edf.org/pressrelease

Link to Full Report in PDF : http://www.edf.org/documents/7904_innovationsreview2008.pdf

This report is no doubt an important step in documenting and sharing the efforts of a wide range of companies to greenify and become more sustainable. Let's embrace these types of changes while at the same time prepare ourselves as consumers for an onslaught of corporate greenwashing! Let's face it, when it comes to claims by companies that they do embrace sustainability and green technologies there really isn't any place to go to verify such claims. We're not just referring to companies outside the so-called green and natural products industries as they are just as susceptible to make unjustified claims in search of the other green! Witness the recent lawsuit filed by Dr. Bronner's in which they assert that many companies are taking advantage of the lack of standards to make false claims about the "natural" ingredients their products contain.

Link to Article on Lawsuit: http://naturalfoodsmerchandiser.com

Visionary Values is working on a comprehensive database that will help answer these types of questions and root out false claims so we, as conscious consumers, can help regulate what companies sell to us. If we don't protect ourselves and work together to ensure collective responsibility, we will always have questions. We do need your help in compiling all this data, so feel free (really!) to contact us for more details. Fight the Good Fight!

Rethinking Green

The June 2008 issue of Wired Magazine has a great article, Inconvenient Truths: Get Ready To Rethink What It Means To Be Green, that questions all those feel good things we do to be green.

Although the article is rather simplistic and doesn't go far enough, the subject is right on and ripe for discussion.

Here's the intro paragraph:

"The environmental movement has never been short on noble goals. Preserving wild spaces, cleaning up the oceans, protecting watersheds, neutralizing acid rain, saving endangered species — all laudable. But today, one ecological problem outweighs all others: global warming. Restoring the Everglades, protecting the Headwaters redwoods, or saving the Illinois mud turtle won't matter if climate change plunges the planet into chaos. It's high time for greens to unite around the urgent need to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases."

For more info go to:
http://www.wired.com/science/planetearth/magazine/16-06/ff_heresies_intro

Material Desires

In 2007, a research firm called Information Resources, Inc. found that U.S. consumers are beginning to show purchasing preferences that are based on eco-friendly packaging. In a survey of more than 22,000 U.S. consumers, results showed that about 29% indicated that eco-friendly packaging influenced their brand selection and 21% choose stores that offer good selections of products using environmentally friendly packaging. 

To view a review article & to access the link to the report (they require a sign-in to do so) follow this link:   http://us.infores.com

What types of packaging issues do you feel are most important when analyzing the sustainability practices of a company? Let us know!

Big Business Moves Natural

How many of you lament the sale of your favorite small companies to much larger and more corporate entities? How many of you know if those small companies have been able to maintain their uniqueness, the pieces that made them special to you? Well, that question is addressed in a recent Inc. Magazine article. The article focuses on the recent sale of 40% of Honest Tea to Coca Cola. in the article Seth Goldman, founder of Honest Tea argues that the move is good business and good for the natural products industry. What do you think? Do you support these sales? Are there ways in which this dynamic can have an overall positive effect on the natural products industry and mainstream supermarkets?

For a link to the Inc. article:

http://www.inc.com/magazine/20080501/did-seth-go-to-the-dark-side.html

For a link to Seth's Inc. blog:

http://blog.inc.com/the-mission-driven-business/

Feed & Grain Prices Out of Control!

Despite your feelings on the reasons for the huge increases in global prices of grains and feed (from $200 per ton up to $500 per ton), the fact is that the pressure is on. Even if we immediately back off the support of ethanol and other bio-fuels that many believe has caused these price increases and shortages, we still must address today's needs. Organic Valley has recently attempted to stabilize prices for their milk and egg suppliers by reaching out to organic grain producers and inviting them to join the cooperative ranks. The hope and desire is that buyers and sellers involved in a cooperative agreement will be more apt to settle on fair prices that respect the symbiotic relationship inherent in agriculture.

Visionary Values reminds consumers that no decision is made in a vacuum and that we all must take responsibility for our personal and collective actions.

Putting Food In Perspective!

We all should put our own needs and preferences into perspective from time to time and in doing so, it sometimes makes it easier to have a bit of fun during that process. I was reviewing the current offerings on the website of a great magazine called Ode (see link below) and I came across a little game that might interest a few (I hope more than a few!!) of our Visionary Values readers. Take a few minutes to play, improve your vocabulary and give a little to those in great need.

http://www.freerice.com/

http://odemagazine.com/

All natural eco green warm and fuzzy

So what is Visionary Values. Let me start by asking some questions.

So with all the labels and slogans out there, how do we really know what products and companies align with our values? What really makes a product "green", "eco-friendly", or "all natural"?

Is there any standard way to find products that align with your values? Wouldn't you like to know which organizations back and govern the multitude of certifications and standards in the marketplace?

Visionary Values is poised to provide the discerning consumer the tools to answer these questions.

Remember this next time you look at a product or company and feel overwhelmed with their various slogans and certifications advertising their merits.

Stay tuned!

Local or Organic?

It turns out that what drives customer choices is a bit more complex that we might have been led to believe. A recent customer survey conducted by The Natural Foods Merchandiser shows that consumers are more apt to choose a local product over an organically produced one that is not local. The results show that when given a choice between an equally priced local but not organic item and an organic but not local item that 35% of consumers said they would prefer the local item while 22% would purchase the organic item. Additionally, 44% of respondents said that ultimately they would prefer both local and organic in their purchases.

Check out the rest of the details at the Natural Foods Merchandiser website.

http://www.naturalfoodsmerchandiser.com/tabid/66/itemid/3028/Local-or-organic-Shoppers-say-both-please.aspx

Question: Do you find yourself aligned with these results?

Industry Standards for "Natural" Products

Folks, have you ever wondered just what the heck these companies mean when they call their product "natural?" Well, since there are currently no standards in place to help consumers determine for themselves just what this designation should cover, what are we to do?

It turns out that a number of of leading personal care suppliers and manufacturers have joined with the Natural Products Association to create such standards as well as a seal that will help consumers identify those products that fit the criteria.

According to them, products should be sporting this new designation along with a readily identifiable seal stating compliance with these new criteria. What do you folks think? Is this a good thing? Is it something that you feel is necessary? Is it not enough oversight?

For those of you more inquisitive readers, the link to access more information about this process is located below!

www.naturalproductsassoc.org/site/PageServer

What are your favorite companies?

We here at Visionary Values are in the business of compiling information on the manners in which food companies, specifically those in the natural products industry, conduct themselves according to issues of sustainability. Clearly, consumers have their favorites, the companies they trust and prefer. We are no different and we want to share these details with consumers. 

What makes a company a favorite? What are the factors that you look for when making you purchases?

We like to look for products that are certified organic and fair trade when applicable. We also prefer to avoid GMOs if possible. These days it is getting easier for companies to either directly use renewable energies such as wind or solar or to purchase carbon offsets. We prefer to support companies that have progressive and supportive employee policies such as health care plans, living wages and perhaps encourage and support employees to participate in community or charitable activities.

On a personal level, I like a local company here in Boulder called Conscious Coffees. All their coffee is organic and fair-trade. They have plans to make all their deliveries by bicycle. They re-use, recycle and compost as much as possible. Even the plastic bags that they use to package their bulk coffees are delivered to our local recycling center (another great business called Eco-Cycle) to ensure they are processed properly. They refuse to use the valve lock packaging as there is no available manner to recycle them. They use 100% post consumer waste products in their business and personal activities. Finally, they believe in and greatly value every relationship they have and take great care in ensuring they participate in mutually beneficial interactions. On top of all that - they roast a heavenly and delicious range of coffees!

Check them out at www.consciouscoffees.com

Let us know which companies you admire and why.  Thanks!!

Sustainable Substitutes

In my last post I presented some remarkable products made from bamboo. It seems as though these are days when we will begin to see more of these types of alternative and sustainably produced and recyclable materials replacing more commonly used toxic and harmful materials. Manufacturers must begin to invest in producing products using materials that are not destined for complete disposal in landfills or incinerated. We cannot continue to accept the belief that these resources are disposable and in endless supply! 

For a more in-depth perspective on the basic tenets of re-visiting and re-creating the concepts of design so that we support and encourage more sustainable production, pick up a copy of Cradle To Cradle, by William McDonough & Michael Braungart, printed entirely without the use of "paper!"

http://www.mcdonough.com/cradle_to_cradle.htm

Question: Are you more likely to support a company that makes concerted efforts to locate and incorporate sustainably produced & sourced materials to replace less than ideal materials?

Bamboo Bicycle

Check out this fully functional and quite attractive bamboo bicycle by Calfee!

www.calfeedesign.com/bamboo.htm

Bamboo is renewable, super strong & durable, does not require pesticides & herbicides and it grows very quickly!

See some other products currently utilizing this supergrass!

http://outside.away.com/outside/gear/200503/bamboo-bikes-skateboards.html

BBC's The Green Room

Lots of good info these days! The BBC is an excellent resource for environmental issues and they have a special area on their website called The Green Room. See if the link below brings you to an updated page.

http://news.bbc.uk/2/hi/in_depth/sci_tech/green_room/default.stm

Also on The Green Room:

"Greenwash" is losing its shine.

Viewpoint - Rebecca Swift

http://news.bbc.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7251380.stm

Be sure to read the comments to get a more global perspective on the issue of greenwashing.

Question: What are your opinions on greenwashing and claims made by companies regarding their environmental records? Let us know!

Entrepreneur Magazine

Entrepreneur Magazine frequently highlights green/environmental businesses and here are a few links to current and past articles that have appeared on-line. Some of these folks are really taking this green stuff seriously! Get inspired!

Making Every Day Earth Day

April 22 lasts 365 days a year for these eco-friendly businesses.

By Kristin Chessman - April 18, 2008

http.www.entrepreneur.com/management/operations/article192994.html

Going Green in the Workplace

These 10 eco-friendly solutions can help get your business in order.

By Charlene Davis - March 21, 2008

http://www.entrepreneur.com/management/article191852.html

Links to Content Related To: Nature and the Environment

http://www.entrepreneur.com/relatedtopics/Nature%20and%20the%20Environment/index.html

More Sustainability Videos

This interesting website - www.sustainability.gather.com - has a large number of very interesting videos compiled. Take a look!

http://www.gather.com/viewVideos.jsp?grpld=3659174697238563&nav=Groupspace

Happy Viewing!

Conscious Consumer Overview

Here is a link to GreenBiz.com's perspective on the elements present in today's conscious consumer. How do YOU stack up?

http://www.greenbiz.com/column/2008/04/28/conscious-consumers-a-nutshell#

Committed to Sustainability

We live in very interesting times indeed! Check out these inspirational stories of communities making the commitment to sustainable development.

ENVIRONMENT-UAE: Coming Up - World's First "Zero-Carbon" City

By Meena Janardhan

Dubai, June 15 (IPS) - A city free of cars, pedestrian-friendly, powered by renewable energy and surrounded by wind and photovoltaic farms - all in the middle of a petroleum-rich desert.

http://www.ipsnews.org/news.asp?idnews=38187#share

AND

Greensburg Greentown - Rebuilding a Mid-West town as a model green community.

http://www.greensburggreentown.org/

Shopping Protocol

What is your personal shopping protocol when re-stocking your kitchen? Do you have preferences that are driven by deeply held eco-philosophies or do you feel somewhat obliged to shop a particular way due to the shopping habits of your friends?

What is important to you? Certified Organic? Certified Fair-Trade? "All Natural?" Do these companies you see on supermarket shelves recycle and use sustainable energy? What type of community participation or charitable donation policy do they embrace? What plans to these companies have to become more sustainable? How recyclable or re-claimable are the materials used in packaging these products?

These are all valid questions that we at Visionary Values believe are extremely important to ask of these companies and yet, where can you find a comprehensive listing of such key pieces of the sustainability puzzle?

We want to help! Our eco-endeavors are driving us to offer the conscious consumer answers to these questions. We will, of course, need the help of all of you conscious consumers. Throughout the next few months we wish to engage in a process of dialogue and discovery that can enable us to clearly present such a wide range of consumer data in the most effective and useful manner. Join us in the journey of uncovering the key elements of Visionary Values companies and also in the quest to encourage all companies to embrace such values.