Letter from the Executive Director
It’s Time for a Sustainability – HR Coalition
Employee engagement is a hot topic in HR circles. Experts estimate that up to 70% of US workers are not engaged at work and, further, that this disengagement costs companies about $500 billion annually. Disengaged employees are more likely to provide poor customer service, they are more prone to accidents, more likely to take sick days and they are less productive. So it’s no wonder that human resource teams are concerned about measuring and increasing engagement. At the same time, some sustainability leaders inside companies are struggling too. Facing aggressive year-after-year goals, these folks are wondering where they will get the next round of savings. Sustainability leads need fresh ideas and, ultimately, all hands on deck to generate savings.
It’s time for some creative cross-functional collaboration. A coalition, if you will.
Conversations Around Sustainability: The “Yes, And” Approach
I spent Saturday at the Green Alliance Sustainability Fair in Waukesha County, Wisconsin. Cool Choices had an exhibit and we did a workshop; we were talking about the free county-wide Cool Choices program we are launching in the Waukesha County later this fall.
The fair occurred in a clearing at a state park, which meant we were talking about environmental sustainability just a few yards from hiking trails on a crisp and sunny Wisconsin day. Perhaps as a result, I did not encounter anyone at this event who opposed protecting Wisconsin’s amazing natural resources for future generations. Opinions did vary, though, on what needed to happen and how.
People and Behavior: The Problem Becomes the Solution
In September I’ll present at the World Energy Engineering Congress in Atlanta. I’ll present on Engaging Employees to Maximize Savings: A Cool Approach as part of a session titled How to Stop Misbehaving to Save Energy and Money. The session title suggests that the priority is to stop bad behavior; here at Cool Choices, though, we focus on identifying, amplifying and multiplying good behavior.
It’s really about the frame.
Are Fireworks Bad for the Environment?
I’ve been encouraging people to reduce waste and minimize their greenhouse gas emissions for more than 25 years now, and some questions still make me wince:
Business Sustainability Role More Clear: Kuntz Reflects on 7 Years
I celebrated my seventh anniversary with Cool Choices last week at the Sustainable Brands conference. The event, which is very much a celebration of business leadership on sustainability coupled with a strong nudge to do more faster, was exactly the right place to be as I reflected on these past years.
Picking Up Litter: A Spring Tradition
It’s springtime in Wisconsin, and for us Midwesterners, spring means there’s litter, uncovered from the melting snow, in our yards.
I walk a couple of blocks to the gym most mornings, and when I see trash lying on the ground, I pick it up. This tradition always reminds me of Jack Imholte, the chancellor of my undergraduate alma mater, the University of Minnesota at Morris. I don’t think Jack ever walked past a piece of litter without picking it up. In fact, I have clear memories of him walking across campus, with crumpled paper cup or plastic bag in hand.
