UPCOMING EVENT - MARCH 3rd

Sustainability & Supply Chain Professional’s Key Role

By World Renowned Speaker

Cathy Rodgers, MBA

Vice President, Global Opportunities at IBM

and

Golden Gate University Alumnus

Sourcing for a Sustainable Future

One tree will be planted for each person in the audience 

WHEN:  Thursday, March 3, 2011

5:30 PM – Registration/Networking

6:30 PM – Dinner

7:30 PM – Speaker

WHERE:  Golden Gate University

536 Mission Street, 5^th Floor Room 5310

San Francisco, CA 94105

REGISTRATION

APICS & ISM Members; advance registration: $25

APICS student member; advance registration: $15

Non-members & At-the-Door: $35

Reserve in Advance and be part of the tree planting event at:  add your name & APICS email address here.

Speaker Biography:

Responsible for providing complex global opportunity engagement and pursuit leadership on approximately $20B international deal annual pipeline. Cathy is responsible for IBM Global Services Worldwide Strategic Relations and has been instrumental in driving cooperative relationships with a wide variety of key ISV, OEM and Services business partners. Her leadership, integrity and creative partnering approaches paved the way for a world-class engagement model in the growing area of 'multi-sourcing' and co-opetition. Cathy currently Chairs the IBM GTS Smarter Planet/Cities Global Advisory Board, is the Chairperson for ISM (Institute of Supply Management) Committee on Sustainability & Social Responsibility and is a member of Tech America's Commercial Executive Board of Directors, Chairman of the Committee for International Policy; including the International Environmental Committee.

Cathy is one of IBM's most sought after executives for employee motivational events and speaks regularly on the topic of sustainability, supply chain, creating a smarter planet and women in business. Cathy's passion, bold thinking, teamwork and commitment to being a positive catalyst for change has continued to have a significant positive impact on her team, her global colleagues, the people she mentors and the clients she supports.

Cathy has been recognized twice as woman of the year in business in California, has received a special accommodation from the Governor of California and was previously featured in the New York Times for her work with minority suppliers. Cathy holds a B.A., M.A. in Education/Community Services, and an MBA with a minor in Finance (from GGU), and holds a lifetime teaching credential. 

 

Sustainable University Campuses in California

The University of California Chico is the only campus in the California State University system that has made a commitment to zero-waste. The University wants to achieve a waste diversion rate of 90% or better by 2015, which is needed to achieve a zero-waste status.

How does the University want to achieve this? It gradually decreases its environmental impact over the next four years. Here are some of the ways that the university changed its business practices to be more sustainable.

·      composting nearly 200,000 pounds of food scraps each year from CSU, Chico’s cafeterias, coffee shops, and AS Catering

·      continuously expanding their already successful book buyback program

·      setting up recycling bins around the campus to motivate the students to recycle

But the University of California Chico is not the only school implementing sustainable business practices. A great school very close by has emerged to the greenest campus in the world: UC Berkeley.

The following list represents some of the highlights of its sustainability practices:

·      Reduction of greenhouse gas emission by 4.5%

·      Total water usage (not incl. residence hall) has dropped by almost 20% in the last 21 years.

·      Bottled water sales have been reduced by 25% due to an “I Heart Tap Water” campaign on campus.

·      The launch of the university’s Campus Cycle Plan has lead to an increase of 850 bicycles commuters

These universities set a great example for campus around the world. What other campus can you think of that implement greener and more sustainable business practices?

Legalizing Sustainability – Joel Makower blog

The article I read is based on a bill presented in Senate last week that would legalize for California corporations to pursue social/ environmental good over profit. Right now shareholders can sue companies that have social or environmental programs that affect shareholder equity or company profits. The SB 201 (The Corporate Flexibility Act of 2011)  will allow any entity in California to include a social and/or environmental mission and go after them just as much as after profits. I’m not sure if this bill is passed if shareholders will still attain the same shares and/or equity within a company.

Mr. Makower makes an excellent point in his article:

“To gain traction, these companies will need the support — or the demands — of institutional investors, such as large pension funds, embracing flexible purpose corporations. It will take leadership companies, government agencies, universities and other large buyers of goods and services to adopt policies giving procurement preference to these companies. And it may well take preferential tax treatment for flexible purpose corporations, or other policy mechanisms, such as fast-track permitting or reduced oversight.”

I would like to know more details about the “preferential tax treatment” that these companies would get…because again if they see preferential tax treatment, most companies will jump on the sB201 law just to get a break on taxes without actually believing in the environmental and social measures that they will put forth. (Maybe I’m just too much of a negativist when it comes to my beliefs about companies.)

Let’s see if it will pas before I make any further assumptions. I think overall this is a great bill to pass for large companies, but I think it would be unfair to pass it on to small businesses that may not have the means to do so. Also will this be obligatory or just something to protect companies agains shareholders who don’t want to jeopardize earnings?

For the full article please go to Joel’s Blog.

 by Juliannabb

JOB OPENING

Craigslist Link: http://sfbay.craigslist.org/sfc/mar/2204851107.html

Help manage the marketing implementation of our web2.0 lead generation process, and grow into other marketing roles. We are a software startup-up, applying gamification innovations to the work-place, with the goal of making the world a better place.

We are looking for someone who:
• Is very comfortable with experimenting with technologies such as Twitter, Salesforce, Mechanical Turk, LinkedIn
• Can manage outsourced marketing research projects.
• Can break down business processes into small executable components
• Personable, effective, detail oriented.
• Loves Sustainability and Corporate Social Responsibility.
• Can write/edit great marketing collateral.

Please check out recipro.com, and respond with:
• Your linkedin resume
• Your experience with the above listed technologies, and/or experience writing marketing copy.
• How you want to make the world a better place

20h/week, with flexible hours. It is ideal for a college senior or recent graduate looking to learn from this experience, and grow into a more senior marketing or sales role. 3-month commitment required.

GREEN CONSUMER SEGMENTATION

According to www.sparxoo.com there are three different types of consumer segmentation. There were a lot of other sources that I checked which had at least five to six different types of segmentation. I liked sparxoo.com’s segmentation because they made it pretty simple by dividing consumers in three different groups.

1. Eco go -getters – These are the tech savvy consumers who make informed buying decisions, are local shoppers, and enjoy quality and most likely will do their shopping at whole foods

2. The Cleaners – These are the consumers who live a pollutant free lifestyle, eat only organic, use non toxic cleaners and make up, understand that physical exercise is part of their overall well being, and buy mostly local.

3. The Healers – These consumers are like the “Mother Theresa of Conscious Consumers” and they shop and lead their lives in a way that will benefit the planet. They buy and live their lives in a way to eliminate hunger, disease, and poverty. These consumers are pretty big donators and are motivated by thoughts of human suffering and planet well being.

It seems like a pretty simple way to segment green or conscious consumers – but I have to say that I agree with them. I think there are the people who are somewhat careful with what they buy and try to stay “green”, then there are the people in the middle, and lastly the extremists. I am also very pleasantly surprised with how they incorporated lifestyle choices such as donations and exercise into their segmentation. I think that was a very smart move, because people who are  ”conscious” of sustainability, are also going to be more conscious of their bodies and their regiment.

RECAP OF OUR KICK-OFF MEETING

We had our first S4S meeting of the term this past Monday and we, the club leaders, would like to thanks those that were able to come to our meeting! If you weren't able to come you can read about the highlights of our meeting here.

S4S has two great events planned this term and we would love to see you there:

• Social Media and Goodwill Within Companies “ADVERTISING & PHILANTHROPY", which will take place on March 21th, Time: TBD and our speaker will be Kit McCurdy
• "Green Career Panel". This event will be co-sponsored by S4S and it will take place on March 30th from 5.30pm to 7:30pm at the Jesse Street Building. The panel will be moderated by Carol McClelland, the author of Green Careers for dummies. S4S organized a panel speaker, too. Marie Perriard is the Marketing Manager at Sustainable Life Media and will talk about her experience of marketing in the sustainability field.

Beyond that we also talked about what sustainability means, which you can find out here by reading one of our earlier blog posts, the mission of our club and how you can contribute. Be sure to check back regularly as we will be providing updates on the events on our blog as well as on Facebook and Twitter.

We hope to see you at the upcoming events and encourage you to contact us with any questions or concerns!

GREAT INTERNSHIP OPPORTUNITY!

The Union of Concerned Scientists would like to invite applications for our paid internship position from the BERC community.  Please see the position description below.

_____________________________________________________________________________

California Clean Vehicles Intern – Union of Concerned Scientists

Location: Berkeley, CA Office

THE POSITION:

The California Clean Vehicles Intern will work with Clean Vehicles program staff to organize support for strong California transportation policies. Intern's duties include but are not limited to engaging UCS members and activists in our campaigns; helping to load email alerts and other online activism; maintaining/updating our web pages; providing support for outreach efforts to experts such as engineers, economists, and scientists; event coordination; and database management.

The Clean Vehicles Intern may also have the opportunity to participate in related California campaigns with the UCS Western States Climate and Energy Program.

RESPONSIBILITIES:

                        Engaging UCS members and activists in our campaigns;

                        Providing assistance with administration of online communications and web content management;

                        Providing support for outreach efforts to scientists and other experts, coalition partners and the general public;

                        Volunteer recruitment for special campaign activities in the Berkeley office;

                        Providing logistics support for campaign event planning;

                        Participate in regular campaign and program meetings with Clean Vehicles staff;

                        Assist with scheduling meetings with agency and legislative officials;

                        Occasionally providing support for projects as needed by the Berkeley Office Manager; and

                        Assist with maintenance of departmental databases, publications, reprints, electronic and paper files, subscriptions, staff calendar, dissemination of CV reports and other materials to targeted recipients. Schedule campaign meetings and other internal and external meetings for department staff as needed.

BASIC KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE:

This is an excellent opportunity to gain experience in outreach and organizing, as well as vehicle, climate and energy policy. Candidates interested in public policy, transportation, energy and environmental issues are encouraged to apply.

Excellent organizational skills, attention to detail, strong oral and written communication skills, and proficiency with computers. Knowledge of Microsoft Office Suite including Word, Excel, and Outlook; Google Docs; as well as database and graphic manipulation software strongly preferred. Familiarity with Convio or website content management systems and online action tools a plus, but not required. Also needed are excellent personal relation skills including an ability to work both independently and in teams, and to interact professionally with individuals with a wide range of skills and responsibilities. Knowledge of transportation issues, experience working in non‐profit environment, and Spanish language proficiency are pluses.

COMPENSATION, HOURS, & DURATION

The Union of Concerned Scientists provides a monthly stipend to interns based on academic and employment experience. This position is a full‐time internship. The duration of this internship will be a minimum of 6 months with the possibility of extension.

To apply: Please submit a cover letter and resume by February 15 via email to internship@ucsusa.org and include “CA CV Outreach Intern” in the subject line. Email materials by Word doc only. No phone calls.

_____________________________________

Miriam Swaffer

California Program & Outreach Associate

Sustainability Coordinator
Union of Concerned Scientists
2397 Shattuck Ave., Suite 203

Berkeley, CA 94704
phone: 510-809-1564

fax: 510-843-3785

mswaffer@ucsusa.org 

UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS - BEST PRACTICE EXAMPLE

Sustainable Electronics Initiative started in 2009 by the University of Illinois students and staff. It is an initiative to research and develop new and sustainable designs and manufacturing for electronics. This initiative not only wants to change the way that our world is manufacturing mass electronics every year and then dumping the old designs in underdeveloped countries, but also to educate people on the benefits of sustainable electronics. For more information on this initiative, please check out their website:  http://www.sustainelectronics.illinois.edu/.

As our first GGU Students for Sustainability Meeting is coming closer, I can’t help but think about the future of this wonderful club and where we and its future leaders will take its mission. These students at University of Illinois didn’t just wake up one day and decide to do the initiative..I’m sure it took lots of thoughts, club meetings, and overall education to get them to actually take a stance and somehow change the world a little bit. Maybe I’m overzealous in thinking that we can do this here at GGU also. I feel like we have so many great students and great staff, that we can also implement a huge sustainability movement here at school. Yes, we have the new recycling and compost bins, but what about all of the paper that we print, the paper cups in the cafe, the dozens of napkins I see left out all over the cafe, the countless professors who need to print out everything… we can start with a small movement here that will change not only school life, but will let others think twice about how much waste is in their life.

We are not perfect, and I’m not saying GGU needs to be completely 100% green, but some stuff I’m sure we can live without…like maybe not taking more than the actual napkins that we are going to use.. and yes I’m guilty of this too.

The GGU Students for Sustainability would love to hear from you and listen to your ideas and thoughts about Sustainability. Please see below for our first meeting details and also how you can find us on social media.

Meeting: 2/7  from 5-6 p.m. Room 5207

Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Blog.

Get involved! Start today!