Moving Forward!

Our efforts to document sustainable businesses and endeavors is in motion now! We are currently in edit mode and should have some excellent interview segments to share with you. Over the past few weeks we have conducted interviews with three businesses: Licious Organics in Boulder, Colorado and Karma Balm and Interiors Green in Bethlehem, New Hampshire. We are very excited to get this project underway!!

Additionally, there has been extensive video documentation of a build site here in Boulder featuring Artesano Plasterers Ryan Chivers & Phil Metzler. This project also features a living roof installed by Andy Creath of Green Roofs of Colorado. We look forward to conducting interviews with these folks as well down the road.

Visionary Values believes that by sharing inspiring stories of individuals and companies working more in harmony with our environment and supporting sustainability, we can encourage others to do the same. After all, we share this beautiful world and all of our challenges must also be shared!

A Link to Sustainable Palm Oil Video

Here is a Bloomberg story on palm oil production and a Liverpool, UK company's efforts to do so sustainably.

What do you think? We believe that consumers should take them up on their promise to source verify their palm oil and present their claims of sustainability in a transparent fashion. Just following up to confirm! If a large enough number of people made this request in an inquisitive and respectful manner, then consumers would have a fully justified reason to support this company's efforts if they are being honest and forthright.

The Palm Oil Conundrum

Palm oil is ubiquitous. It it almost literally everywhere one looks on the grocery shelves. It is also now becoming a key ingredient in the biofuels marketed globally. Indonesia is the world leader in production of palm oil and Colombia, a rising player, is the leader in Latin America. Even Brazil recently announced plans to develop areas of the Amazon for the production of this highly lucrative commodity. They plan to do so whilst minimizing the risk to the environment. Is that possible?

Suffice it to say, the manner in which palm oil is produced is generally massively destructive. Large tracts of virgin forest are clearcut and burned to make way for the monocropped palm plantations. Biodiversity is eliminated and soils are destroyed. In doing so, communities are often alienated, human rights are violated and localized societal unrest ensues. Corporations take complete control and locals are hired on to work the plantations for poor wages.

What is being done? Certainly not enough and not with sufficient haste.

What can consumers do? Check out the following for more up-to-date information on efforts to increase sustainability in palm oil production and to locate ways to identify sustainably produced palm oil:

http://www.greenpalm.org/
http://www.rspo.org/
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/environment/forests/3534204/Palm-oil-round-table-a-farce.html
http://understory.ran.org/2008/05/06/let-the-sleuthing-begin-theproblemwithpalmoilorg-goes-live/

Additionally, take a look at the following blog from a small producer with an eye towards small-scale production:

http://mysarawak2.blogspot.com/2010/07/integrated-oil-palm-farming-in-bintulu.html

Conscious Capitalism Videos

Hey Folks!!

Check out CNNMoney.com for a few videos that focus on conscious capitalism. This one is an interview with 7th Generation CEO Jeffrey Hollender.

Trader Joe's To Sell Only Sustainably Harvested Seafood

The grocery store chain Trader Joe's has announced it will only sell seafood harvested sustainably by the end of 2012. This comes in response to criticism and a campaign by Greenpeace and also to address numerous customer requests over the years. 

The company said it will begin working with third-party groups to define sustainability, ensuring that canned, frozen and fresh fish sold in stores across the country will come from sustainable sources. They will also create more specific labels for fish, including catch methods and Latin names.

Most of us are already quite aware of the dangers of overfishing around the globe and we can applaud such efforts to change unsustainable and ignorant business practices. We can only hope that the entities that are put in place to monitor and oversee this policy ensure that the entirely of the commitment by Trader Joe's is adhered to.

WAIT A MINUTE!!! Shouldn't we be able to do more than just hope!! We as consumers are the recipients of and participants in all sustainable and unsustainable business practices. So, it is also up to us to play our roles as overseers of these commitments. Clearly, if we believe in something and yet are confronted with red flags indicating conflicting information or claims, we must make it known that we are aware of the "greenwash" and that we intend to hold all up to those standards at all times.

U.K Vegan Logos

You tell us, does this discussion leave you a tad confused? Clearly, there are many intricacies and platforms that are part of devising a labeling system. What to focus on, what to leave out, what is absolutely vital, etc. Sometimes it does seem as though the process gets so complex that it seems to exist solely for those who devise it rather that for those it is meant to inform: the consumer!

We like the basic approach the folks from the new vegan licensing organization have that plans to focus solely on presenting the choice of veganism from a positive perspective. Keep it simple, direct and focused.

What do you think? How do you feel certifications should be devised? Should they take an activist or consumer advocate approach or stand back and use strict measurable parameters or perhaps, a hybrid? How much do you need to or want to know regarding the manufacture of products? Do you want verification of practices all the way down to individual ingredients or just the final product. Let us know!!

Are You Confused?

In reading this article one can quickly see that there are really no hard and fast definitions that folks can simply refer to when discussing issues of green and sustainability. Although the concepts themselves are perhaps not that complicated, they do become muddied when those who are not committed to the fundamentals begin to co-opt the use of those terms without applying them with purity.

For those of us who understand many of these tenets of sustainability, it is important to raise a voice in favor of making these definitions understandable and accessible. It is also important that we make sustainability a mainstream reality, not by making it easier through cutting corners, but by helping people understand that we will not survive and lead healthy lives if we ignore the urgency to change our habits and lifestyles.

Pointing fingers and making accusations will do little to create the needed changes. Remember how well you reacted to being scolded as a child, did you ever truly understand the reasoning behind the person confronting you, or did you merely toe the line and do what you were told? This is not how important lessons are learned, not is it how people become better citizens. It is only when concepts are clearly understood and absorbed into one's identity, that they become available in a real and honest fashion.

Let's begin the dialogue that will enable us to share these important issues that will make life happier and healthier for all!

Putting the green back in greenbacks

It seems as though there are studies and surveys galore these days that are reassuring customers that green is just as popular, if not more so, despite the sinking economy. The most recent one I have come across is from Green Seal and EnviroMedia Social Marketing and is called the 2009 National Green Buying Study.

The study shows that around half of all consumers are still buying as many eco-friendly products as they did before the recession began, and an additional 19 percent are buying more products than before. Just 14 percent have cut back spending on green products. LOHAS consumers are still the most loyal and steady enviro-customers and they drive the market and its growth.

The more mainstream customers are the ones who are still not nearly as green minded in their shopping. These customers are going to need to understand the added value of products that are priced higher than those they normally purchase. If they can see a savings over time, that helps.  "On the one hand, consumers will be more resistant than ever to buy premium-priced products, especially if they are dubious to begin with about a product's green value proposition — that is, whether it really will help address the planet's environmental challenges," says Joel Makower, executive editor of GreenBiz.com and author of Strategies for the Green Economy.

Even though there is much reason to remain ultra aware of greenwashing and that many of these studies may not paint the most complete picture of our actual economic commitment to environmental issues and sustainability, there is enough evidence to show that awareness has increased. 

Our goal at Visionary Values is to deepen this awareness in consumer behavior and trace the commitment all the way to the core of the business practices of companies marketing eco-friendly products. It is clear that we all must make changes in our world views and our consumption is a key piece of this highly integrated process. It is all about accountability after all. Without customer participation in this process, companies will never know just how important it is to be transparent and committed to sustainability. In the end, with enough customer participation and oversight, they won't be able to make money if they don't approach baseline standards, because we won't buy their products!!

Eco Fast Food?!

Organic burger chain, Elevation Burger, announced plans to open eight restaurants in the Philadelphia area and has plans to open up to 40 in seven states and Washington, D.C.

Well of course a movement like this was bound to occur as this country will never give up its quick meal demands! Taking a time tested concept and retrofitting it to eco-friendly standards is certainly a big step in the right direction. Even though the burger and fries concept isn't exactly the heart healthy meal, at least the beef is organic (it doesn't mention the fries though)!

The buildings are to adhere to LEED standards and include bamboo flooring, recycled tires and energy efficient appliances. We applaud these efforts to take a well-known business concept and make it more sustainable. 

Lesson to all: It does not matter what kind of business you have, there are "greening" opportunities everywhere!! There are also many ways businesses can focus on other triple bottom line issues by considering living wages, charitable donation policies, eco-friendly purchasing guidelines, commitment to local communities, and many other avenues for sustainability! 

Being green and sustainable isn't for eco-elitists or ultra liberals hell bent on subverting our economy. No, it is about regaining respect for our environment and for one another and ensuring that we have a future to look forward to. These are actions to integrate into our lives now and not when we are circling the drain!

P.S. If you happen to stop by one of these restaurants, check to see if the rest of the ingredients like the salads and the fries are also organic. It would be a shame if they missed the opportunity to make a full commitment to those standards!

Sustainable Television

The Sundance Channel will have some interesting shows coming up this month. Take a look below for a small list of programming:

Tuesday, June 10th 9pm est

"Big Ideas for a Small Planet: Business"

This episode visits companies, large & small, in the eco-vanguard: businesses that are doing well by doing good for the earth.

Crude Impact

An award-winning film that details the many ways that oil has shaped the world by enabling humankind to dominate virtually every other species living on the planet.

Check out the homepage at: http:www.sundancechannel.com/thegreen

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!