2010
09.28
Bob Willard at Strathcona BIA
I’m sitting at Sustainability 3.0 right now listening to Bob Willard speak to a packed room at the Japanese Language Centre. It’s warm, with lots of great snacks, thirst quenching juices (I’ve been eying up the free trade coffee for the past 20 mins) but the most refreshing thing in the room is his presentation itself, refreshingly positive. Too often we are banged over the head with impending doom and gloom, peak oil, climate refugees, resource wars, a whole host of images some of them dystopian some of them downright apocalyptic all thrown into the discourse around climate change, the environment and sustainability. Instead of a charge that we have to do this sustainability thing or the myriad nightmarish consequences will weigh on our conscience, Bob suggests that we can do this as it’s a win win on all accounts. The sustainability discourse continues to change and adapt because of refreshing ideas like this and other things as new technologies, new ideas, new metrics, and new values are introduced into the mix. One point he makes that I find particularly inspiring is that sustainability and greening business practices can be and are seen increasingly as an enabler. Not as one more thing to do or be bothered by, but something that you can accomplish numerous important goals through. In fact, according to Willard it can increase profitability for SMEs (Small and Medium Enterprises)by as much as 66% by focusing on 6 benefit areas. Some of these have to do with people, some with waste and efficiencies, some are to do with rebates and energy savings others with tax breaks etc. Saving money on water, energy heating etc. premiums and insurance .Willard demonstrates that going green is no longer being seen as a chore or an 11th hour response to impending doom, it is becoming the pathway to success. Now where’s that coffee, ah right next to the Saul Good table…
