Green businesses see more green

By Shelley Smithssmith@salisburypost.com

More than 60 people attended the sustainability workshops Wednesday and Thursday, coordinated by the the Center for the Environment and Rowan Works.

The workshop, "Sustainability: Improving Your Triple Bottom Line," was given by Darcy Hitchcock, president of AXIS Performance Advisors. Hitchcock has published several books on sustainability, and hosts a television show, "Sustainable Today," and is the founder of the International Society of Sustainability Professionals.

Hitchcock's workshop focused on trends and issues that plague society, showing how they all connect to each other socially, economically and environmentally.

Some of the issues attendees came up with during the workshop are:

- Dependence on oil

- Air and water quality

- Food quality

- Farmville distortion of prices

- Increase of estrogen in the environment

- Crime

- Childhood obesity

- Education

- Technology, and children relying too heavily on technology

- Loss of biodiversity

- Consumerism

- Reliance on disposable everything

"Everything's connected," Hitchcock said. "You can't just do one thing. We need a better balance.

"The bad news is, everything's interconnected. The good news is, everything's interconnected."

Hitchcock gave several examples of the way she has helped companies shift to sustainable practices and products, including a natural gas company.

She also spoke of ideas that changed the world, including the last great idea, the assembly line, by Henry Ford.

The Industrial Revolution began with Ford, changing the way products are produced and distributed across the world. But, she said, 20th century capitalism has caught up with us.

"We are in a huge shift of world view," she said. "We are standing on the cusp of the sustainable revolution. We need to understand what the new society is going to be based on."

She used the IPAT formula to explain the dilemma the world is in today: impact equals population times consumption/affluence times technology (I=PAT).

Resources and ecosystem services are declining, yet, the demand for resources and ecosystem services is increasing.

"Life expectancy has expanded, which I'm grateful for that, but all of these trends have been increasing," she said. "Consumers and technology made it possible to do way more damage.

"We can't instantly get off of oil if we tried. We can't stop having babies."

So, Hitchcock said, there are two "sides to the coin" for businesses.

"You can capitalize on market failures and make a fortune on scarce resources, or, you can focus on building the sustainability revolution," she said. "Do you want to make things better or make things worse? This is a moral decision that you have to make."

She said employees were part of the solution, and encouraged attendees to have discussion with all employees, asking them how the company could be more sustainable.

"Most employees want companies doing the right things," she said. "By doing the right thing, you gain the goodwill of the community."

One good example of a company cutting costs and helping the environment at the same time was UPS, and its decision to eliminate left turns.

"UPS saved 3 million gallons of fuel in one year by eliminating left turns," she said.

Another company, DesignTex/Rohner Textiles, eliminated more than 60 toxic chemicals out of their carpet products, creating a fabric that performed better, and turned the waste into a new product.

The company actually turned its waste into a ground cover for farming, that was also biodegradable. The water that left the plant was cleaner than the water that flowed into the plant.

"The most fun part about sustainability is it unleashes innovation," Hitchcock said.

For more information on Hitchcock's company, visit http://www.axisperformance.com. For information on the Center for the Environment, visit www.centerfortheenvironment.com.