"…development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs" - World Commission on the Environment and Development - The Brundtland Commission
"Sustainable products are those products providing environmental, social and economic benefits, and protecting the needs of future generations, public health, welfare, and environment over their full commercial cycle, from the extraction of raw materials to final disposition." - Institute for Market Transformation to Sustainability – MTS
Every so often, a book comes along that really invites one to step back and reevaluates his values and lifestyle. This is the case with The Life You Can Save: Acting Now to End World Poverty by Peter Singer (New York, Random House, 2009).
The book points out that most people would do almost anything to safe a child’s life if the eminent risk is right in front of them. It then ponders why most people do not do anything about the 27,000 children that die of poverty daily. Is there a moral obligation to human beings that are geographically far removed from us? If so, why do we not feel the human connection we feel for those who are right in front of us? And is there an effective way to help needy people on the other side of the world?
These are just some of the issues The Life You Can Save: Acting now to end world poverty discusses with incredible simplicity, clarity, rigor and passion. Philosopher Peter Singer walks us through the subtleties of the moral arguments of this issue, and provides very practical and action-oriented advice. How to find an effective and efficient charity? How much does it cost to save a life in Africa? Should we tell people about our donations or should we keep it to ourselves? What is more effective?
I highly recommend this little book to anyone who struggles to find out what they can do to help the world become a more equitable and just place, free of extreme poverty. It also helps to provide good reasons to take action and to talk to others about it.
Check out the book’s website if you have a moment. I’d love to hear your thoughts!
"Earthrise," taken in 1968 from Apollo 8, is thought to be one of the most influential environmental photographs ever taken.
Though Merida has been on a sustainability journey for 30 years, we have picked up our pace considerably in the past year and plan to keep accelerating our efforts in the months and years ahead. As my understanding of the urgency of the environmental situation grows, my own sense of responsibility for changing things is growing rapidly. I am alternatively inspired and encouraged by the changes toward more sustainable practices I see businesses and consumers making everyday. Just two years ago, we did a study testing consumer attitudes regarding sustainability and it varied from mild interest to no interest. Today, we have customers seeking our green products every day and coming to Merida specifically because of our commitment to sustainability. It is a very measurable and noticeable difference.
Beyond Merida, there seems to a growing interest in sustainability. My college is now tracking how “green” the campus has become in the Alumni newsletter, my son’s elementary school has stopped printing the PTO newsletter on paper as part of a sustainability effort and my bank has now used technology to eliminate envelopes when depositing checks in the ATM. There seems to be palpable momentum building up for sustainability. This is critical. The more people who actively change their habits, starting with recycling and reusing and ultimately restoring, the faster we will be able to make a substantive impact on climate change and other threats to our Earth. With collective and sustained efforts by organizations and individuals, we will enjoy a bright future for our planet, with many happy, hopeful Earth Day celebrations ahead for our children and our children’s children.
If you have started on the sustainability journey we would love to hear your stories, ways you have altered your lives, choices you are making on consumer products and people who have inspired you.
Sustainability consists of three key pillars: economic, social and environmental. It is only by responsibly assessing an organization’s policy in each of these areas that a leader can help companies improve the world for future generations.
None one of these dimensions is more important or relevant than another. In an example of true systemic interaction, progress on one front creates a positive feedback loop that advances the sustainability of another. Conversely, if one area lags behind the others for too long, a negative feedback loop emerges. This notion is quite abstract, but it is crucial for fully grasping the meaning of sustainability. Two brief examples might help turning this idea a little bit more concrete.
Companies that become conscious and mindful of their processes and try to achieve sustainable production, strive to reduce their energy consumption, material use and waste generation. The bottom line will immediately reflect the positive feedbacks of these sustainable 
practices. In an opposite direction, it is extremely difficult, if not impossible, to keep a healthy natural environment in a socially and economically degraded community. Local actors and groups will use the natural environment in a predatory way and will plunder any resource that is created. It is necessary to work both the social and environmental aspect at once.
In the next few posts I will unravel each of the three pillars, analyzing the different issues, challenges, solutions and trade-offs that must be considered. I will also analyze examples of how synergy is created when tackling social, environmental and economic issues in a holistic and systematic way.
Today I’d like to outline a few of the most important issues in each of the pillars to give you an idea of the wide range of issues that are involved in the journey to become a sustainable company.
Considering a company’s value chain and the three pillars, I list some of the issues that should be taken into account when formulating a sustainability strategy
Supply chain 
(social, environmental and economic)
- Make sure suppliers comply with environmental and social standards
- Practice fair trade
- Partner with supplier for technical and managerial development
- Support supplier community local development
Production inputs/output
(environmental and economic)
- Energy
- Manufacturing
- Waste
- Product design
Finance
(economic)
Employee policies
(social)
Local community
(social)
Marketing/sales
(economic and environmental)
Industry
(social, economic and environmental)
In the following postings, I will elaborate on each one of these areas. I ask you to keep plugged!! I sincerely hope that you will help me finesse Merida’s collective and my own understanding of these issues.
Please, start by suggesting issues and areas that I left out the outline presented here.
