Sustainable Team Building in the Northwoods

In our current difficult economy, many companies are looking for ways to build employee morale using unconventional and cost-effective team building strategies. Facing tight budgets and, in many cases, impending layoffs, HR departments have been forced to get creative when designing programs to keep their remaining employees engaged and content.

At Paydirt, we encourage our clients to use environmental stewardship as an issue and initiative for rallying employees. Often our clients will form internal “green teams” to help assess their company’s environmental impacts and to develop strategies to reduce those impacts. Our strategic framework is designed to help companies identify and implement strategies that make a measurable difference in environmental performance, while also meeting critical business objectives.

Even in a recession, we find that “engaging employees” and building morale is still one of the most important business objectives for our clients. It’s been heartening (and maybe a tad surprising) to see how willing employers are to invest time and energy in developing employee-focused sustainability programs.

This summer, Paydirt worked with one particularly employee-centric company that was advanced enough to realize that, in addition to being a valuable learning and development tool, sustainability can also just be plain FUN. Krass Monroe, a mid-sized, Minneapolis-based law firm, engaged Paydirt to develop an eco-themed teambuilding exercise for the firm’s annual retreat.

The event objectives were to encourage friendly competition among staff, strengthen team member relationships, and integrate an environmental theme in interesting and unexpected ways. To meet those goals, Paydirt designed an “Amazing Race”-style scavenger hunt highlighting natural resources and historic landmarks in the Northwoods of McGregor, Minn.

Each team was tasked with completing a series of challenges with only a map, camera, vehicle, and their team’s skill, dexterity and resourcefulness to support them. Each participant received a McGregor tourism map that contained all of the information required for completing the scavenger hunt. However, the clues were designed to force the teams to be patient and work together.

The three teams (Team Awesome, the Killer Bees, and the Left-Handed Spatulas) set out for their “Quest” on a sunny afternoon in late September. All of the teams started at the same retreat location but were then sent to different second sites. Quest challenge locations included Savanna Portage State Park and the Long Lake Conservation Center, as well as a local winery.

Teams were also given the option to complete “bonus play” to subtract from their finish time, but were required to verify their completion of bonus tasks by documenting their participation on a digital camera. Once the teams arrived at the final Quest location (a hammock!), the Quest “Captains” verified their performance and documented their final time.

Although the winning team (Team Awesome) was undoubtedly the happiest, all of the participants had a great time. Quest participant Shanna Strowbridge noted, “The Quest that Paydirt put together for our firm was not only a great competition but also valuable for team-building. All of the team members had to be involved to help solve the clues and determine the best course to take.  Unlike team-building exercises we’ve had in the past that were mostly lecturing by “experts” on how to work together or make the most out of people’s different styles and personalities, our eco-challenge allowed for a real case study in how to evaluate the best person for each task and to devise mutual ways to succeed at the challenges.”

As for Paydirt, it was also a blast to plan the event! We hope that The Quest signifies the beginning of a trend for companies to realize that sustainability doesn’t have to mean a new set of “boring” or onerous rules and policies, but that “green” programs can also encourage people to get out and enjoy the beauty of nature. We salute Krass Monroe for their commitment to their employees and the environment!

Sustainable Seasons Greetings

During the Holidays, many of us tend to consume a LOT more than usual and forego the “green” habits we follow during the rest of the year.

Following are a few easy tips for ensuring a greener Holiday season and a more sustainable lifestyle as we head into 2010!

•  Switch to solar-powered Holiday lights. Traditional electric lights are a big power drain and can use more than 100 watts of energy per string. Solar-powered LED lights produce a bright, clear light and automatically switch on at sun down.
• Make your own wrapping paper! Most wrapping paper is used only once and then ends up in the landfill. Instead of purchasing mass-produced paper, look around your house for other creative options, such as the inside of brown shopping bags, newspaper, magazine collages or even handmade artwork. Use natural items from your yard or leftover pieces of ribbon to create a beautiful package that would make even Martha Stewart proud.
• Reuse gift bags. More and more people are starting to take advantage of the ease of reusable gift bags or boxes in lieu of wrapping paper. Make sure to take good care of the bags you receive so you can “re-gift” them to others, and then encourage your gift recipients to do the same!
• Recycle your Christmas tree. If you celebrate Christmas, take the time to investigate the tree-recycling program near you. You can locate your local program by visiting www.earth911.org. To be even more sustainable, select a pesticide-free tree from a farm near you.
• Go Green and Give Back! Save the money you would usually spend on Holiday cards, and donate it to a local charity. Send out an electronic greeting with your favorite 2009 picture instead!

Composting 101

Did you know that yard and kitchen waste make up almost 30 percent of the waste stream in the United States?

Removing compostable materials from our garbage cans can significantly reduce landfill space and also has excellent benefits for the health of your garden. Backyard composting has experienced a dramatic rise in popularity in recent years, as more and more people have discovered the environmental and economic benefits of composting (and that it’s not as difficult as it sounds!)

Basic Steps for Successful Composting:

• Identify a location convenient to the garden and the source of your raw materials
• Select an open bin or enclosed container  for compost materials
• Layer a selection of “green” and “brown” materials to balance the moisture content – an ideal blend is approximately 4 parts of browns to one part greens
• Maximize your compost efforts by turning the heap every few days using a garden fork
• “Cook” for several weeks
• Use the composted material in your garden for mulch, potting soil and more!

Typical “green” materials include fresh grass clippings, weeds or leftover kitchen scraps. Typical “brown” materials include dried leaves and grass. Don’t add meat, fish, animal fats, ashes or paper.

You can also purchase compost activators or try vermiculture, which is composting with the aid of worms, to improve the effectiveness and speed of your composting process. But adding a shovel-full of good garden soil will also do the trick. To learn more, visit www.howtocompost.org. Happy composting!

The Yin and Yang of CSR Reporting

The following is an excerpt from my recent article on greenbiz.com.

Crafting an effective corporate social responsibility (CSR) report is both an art and a science. A blend of facts and feelings. An amalgamation of quantitative and qualitative parts assembled into a more complete whole.

When corporate social responsibility reports first emerged, they were packaged as a “feel good” communications tool for showcasing a company’s community relations, environmental or volunteer activities. There was no industry-accepted, gold standard for what constituted a well-written or comprehensive report. Companies were free to come up with their own recipe and approach.

Now, in the age of limitless information, businesses are facing mounting pressure to not just understand their corporate environmental “footprint,” but to provide an honest and accurate snapshot of that footprint to people outside the organization.

It’s no longer sufficient to make vague statements that hint at goals to reduce a company’s environmental impact. Investors, regulators, consumers and even some corporate leaders (including Walmart) are demanding an elevated level of transparency regarding exactly what those businesses are doing to reduce their impact, and are pressing for more quantitative data to substantiate progress in their stated focus areas.

CSR-related metrics are now used to compare a company’s performance to other organizations, or to track a company’s performance over time. With the emergence of the Global Reporting Initiative’s G3 reporting guidelines and other NGOs like the Carbon Disclosure Project, businesses are under the gun to provide verifiable, quantitative data about the size of their environmental, economic and social imprint.

Most businesses are comfortable with the process of collecting and verifying financial data, but few are well-equipped or have a methodology for aggregating accurate CSR data. In particular, companies just starting their reporting journey may struggle with how to measure and communicate their performance, due to a lack of understanding of the metrics material to their industry or stakeholder interests.

So what factors should a company consider when developing its CSR reporting strategy?

To read my entire article visit:

http://www.greenbiz.com/blog/2009/10/22/yin-and-yang-csr-reporting

Reconnecting with the Earth: An Eco-Tour of Napa Valley

As the crisp autumn wind creeps slowly back into the air and the neighborhood kids head back to school, I can’t help but reminisce on my “sustainable” adventures from the summer of 2009.

This year, my summer was filled with more eco-escapades than ever before – exploring the wonders of fine, organic food at local bistros, shopping for environmentally friendly interiors for my 1940’s Cape Cod bungalow, and most notably, a week-long tour of some uniquely sustainable hot spots in California’s famed Napa Valley. 

Having never been to wine country before, my husband and I relied heavily on the power and insight of “Google,” as well as on copious referrals from the many wine lovers in our lives. (If you ever want to see someone get truly animated, ask a wine aficionado about Napa…)

We headed out to the hills with a list of recommendations longer than we could ever hope to visit and frankly very little real knowledge about wine –aside from the basic rules about pairing reds with meat and whites with chicken – a dramatic oversimplification, I know. We made a reservation at Gaia Napa Valley Hotel and Spa, the “world’s first” LEED-certified gold hotel, and charted out a game plan to maximize our wine education (and consumption!)

Fortunately, one of the very first stops on our winery tour turned out to be the most advanced in its environmental practices, and its knowledgeable tour guides succeeded in bringing our appreciation for fine, sustainable wine to a whole new level. Frog’s Leap” winery is nestled in the heart of wine country in Rutherford, CA, and – as its tour guides are apt to say – was organic “before it was cool.” Visitors to the vineyard enjoy guided tastings on the porch of its beautiful LEED-certified building overlooking its picturesque organic gardens.

Frog’s Leap’s operations are centered on a belief that sustainability doesn’t have to mean compromise. Aside from harvesting an absolutely delicious product, Frog’s Leap uses a combination of dry farming, compost and cover crops to take full advantage of its soil and to bring a “balanced diet” to its vines. Cover crops also provide a habitat for desirable insects (like ladybugs and spiders), which then consume other vineyard pests. The vineyard is also 100 percent solar powered and features geothermal heating and cooling in its Hospitality Center.

At its core, however, Frog’s Leap is about good wine, and its owner,  John Williams, certainly succeeds in achieving his goal of producing wines that strongly reflect the soils and climates from which they emanate. Now that’s exactly the kind of “reconnection with the earth” that I can get excited about!

Our trip also taught us that sustainable wine is about more than just the land and the grapes. Sustainable packaging is also a significant focus for many wine makers and distributors. Of course most wine bottles or “cubes” can be recycled after use; however, some vintners are also looking for ways to reduce packaging from the outset. For example, last year, popular winemaker Fetzer took steps to reduce the weight of its wine bottle and The Wine Group switched many of its brands from bottles to bags.

Packaging News also recently announced that the world’s first 300g screwcap wine bottle is set to enter the United Kingdom market by the end of this year. The new design will reduce the current best in class wine bottle by 56g. If only less bottle meant more wine…

Get Water Wise!

Did you know that the average U.S. home uses 260 gallons of water per day – and up to 1,000 gallons of water during peak watering season?

Fortunately there are a variety of easy ways to significantly reduce water use in your home, garden and workplace. As just one example, if one out of every 10 American homes upgraded to EPA-approved “WaterSense” fixtures, we’d save more than 120 billion gallons of water and $800 million dollars a year!

Here are a few other simple tips to help conserve water in your daily life:

• Fix that leak! Just one leak can waste up to 200 gallons of water per week.
• Wash only full loads of laundry and dishes, and don’t pre-rinse dishes before loading them into the dishwasher.
• Keep a pitcher of drinking water in the fridge instead of running the tap water until it turns cold.
• Use the garbage disposal sparingly – try composting instead!
• Adjust sprinklers so only the lawn is watered and not the house, sidewalk or street.
• Adjust your lawnmower to cut grass no shorter than three inches; taller grass encourages deeper roots and helps counteract moisture loss.
• Be creative! Try collecting the water you use for rinsing fruits and vegetables and reusing it to water potted plants.

Walmart Changes the Game … Again

Last week Walmart raised some heart rates among manufacturers of consumer goods when they announced their plans for environmental labeling of all the products they sell. Walmart will give products a sort of “green rating” based on their environmental impact from cradle to grave, with suppliers having to calculate this impact for their own goods.  

Walmart is not the first retailer to dream big. In 2007, UK-based grocery chain Tesco unveiled its plan to include carbon labeling on each of the 70,000 products it carries. Working with the Carbon Trust, Tesco is developing these labels to let consumers know how many grams of carbon are emitted as a result of growing, manufacturing, transporting, storing, using and disposing of each product.  Two and half years later, the British supermarket giant has labeled only 100 products in four categories:  light bulbs, orange juice, potatoes and laundry detergent, with products in two more categories expected to soon join the ranks – toilet paper and paper towels. Tesco quickly learned that determining the environmental impact of a product over its lifecycle is no simple feat.

Walmart’s ambition is admirable, and as a consumer who cares about this stuff, I’d love to see such a labeling system – as long as the ratings are developed using a consistent, data-driven approach. The retailer has enlisted the help of universities, NGO’s and government to create a database of lifecycle information, but this project alone could take years. Walmart’s green rating system could prove game-changing for retail in the U.S., but it isn’t going to happen overnight.

And by the way … each sheet of Tesco’s regular toilet paper is accountable for 1.8g of CO2 emissions while their recycled-content toilet paper has a carbon footprint of only 1.1g!

Keep it clean AND green!

With the recent H1N1 pandemic, significant attention has been paid to the importance of maintaining clean home and work spaces. However, did you know that many traditional cleaning products can actually have an adverse effect on health and productivity?

The toxic chemicals and volatile organic compounds (“VOCs”) present in many cleaning products contribute to indoor air pollution, which the EPA ranks among one of the most serious environmental hazards to human health.

There are a few easy ways to protect your health and the environment by simply altering a few products and practices in your cleaning routine. First, switch to green cleaning products, such as those certified by Green Seal, and avoid the use of paper products, ozone-depleting substances, VOCs, and added dyes or fragrances whenever possible. You can also follow a few simple green cleaning practices to minimize pollutants in your indoor environment:

• Focus on entryways inside and out, as most pollutants enter on people’s feet
• Minimize particles and chemicals in the air by capturing pollutants with a wet mop or microfiber dust cloth
• Focus on preventative measures and quick clean up of spills, so fewer and milder chemicals can be used
• If harsher chemicals must be used, increase natural ventilation by opening windows and doors
• Regularly vacuum carpets and upholstered furniture

For more green cleaning resources, visit www.greenseal.org.

A little less talk… and a lot more action

A recent international study by IBM revealed that, despite the global recession, most corporations remain committed to improving their corporate social responsibility (“CSR”).

Specifically, 60 percent said CSR is more important to their businesses now than it was a year ago, with only six percent saying it was less important. However, many of those companies’ lofty statements are faltering in practice – with progress failing to keep pace with goals.

IBM’s study cites the following three factors as the primary reasons for most respondents’ lackluster CSR performance:

1. Companies aren’t collecting the data necessary to analyze improvements in CSR or aren’t compiling it often enough
2. Few are collecting CSR data from global supply chain partners
3. Most haven’t taken the time to key stakeholders and don’t have a strong understanding of their concerns

In comparison, high-performing companies report to doing all three items: frequently collecting and analyzing data; incorporating CSR supplier information to evaluate success; and regularly engaging customers in a meaningful way.

IBM concludes that those shortfalls are preventing corporations from implementing real changes that would increase efficiency, lower costs, reduce environmental impact and improve the company’s reputation with key stakeholders. Many respondents admitted to focusing on CSR measures that directly improve efficiency (87 percent) or create new revenue opportunities (69 percent).

While such strategies are important, there’s clearly a lack of understanding that an investment in broader activities such as data collection or stakeholder engagement can also ultimately provide companies with significant business value.

Some naysayers may claim that social or environmental responsibility should take a back seat to the tremendous economic pressures that most companies are currently facing. However, most businesses are still facing significant pressure from governments, NGOs, employees, recruits and customers. CSR data collection can help companies meet regulatory requirements, qualify for tax incentives and avoid unnecessary penalties.

At Paydirt, we are unapologetic about our belief that strong corporate and environmental stewardship can and should have a positive impact on a company’s bottom line. Our programs are designed to directly and immediately reduce operational costs, and improve efficiency whenever possible. We employ a fact-based, data-driven approach that responds to the wide-ranging, long-term demands of the marketplace, not just to a company’s need to achieve short-term gains.

We are committed to gathering the data necessary to understand our clients’ global environmental footprint, as well as to building communications programs that engage internal and external stakeholders in identifying the right strategies for decreasing that footprint over time.

While the results of the IBM study are disappointing in many ways, it’s encouraging to see that there’s a need and demand for our services and approach. Here’s hoping we can incite companies to take action – not just talk about what they could or aspire to do!

Beat the Heat this Summer!

Did you know that the average home spends about $1,900 a year on energy costs?

Although it may seem hard to believe, it’s finally warming up here in Minnesota, and many of us will soon be revving up our energy-guzzling air conditioners for the first time this year.

Here are a few easy ways to save energy and money while still staying cool this summer!

• Replace your air conditioning filters on a monthly basis: Dirty filters restrict airflow and cause the system to run longer and less efficiently.

• Use ceiling fans to supplement air conditioning use: Ceiling fans can help cool your home by creating a low-level “wind chill” effect throughout a room. Consider an ENERGY STAR® model for maximum efficiency.

• Turn up your thermostat: Set your thermostat to 76–78 degrees when you are home and 85 degrees or off when you’re away. A change from 73 to 76 degrees could save you up to 30 percent on your cooling costs this summer!

• Seal your ducts: On average, leaking ductwork accounts for 25 percent of home cooling costs. Have your ducts tested and any leaks or restrictions repaired by a qualified contractor.

• Consider “cool” exterior finishes: Use light-colored or other cool roofing and siding products when replacing your roof or painting your house.

• Install window shading: Use trees, plantings, patio covers, awnings, and solar window screens to shade your home from the sun.

• Invest in a new air-conditioning unit: If your air conditioner is on the way out, purchase an ENERGY STAR air conditioner. A new, high efficiency, 13 SEER air conditioner uses about half the energy of a 15-year-old air conditioner.