At a recent EcoTuesday gathering in San Francisco, Sue Amar, Sustainability Officer at salesforce.com, referenced what Malcolm Gladwell calls the “law of the few” (aka the 80/20 principle), according to which 20% of the people will bring about 80% of the changes in the world. She’s a prime example of this herself, having single-handedly started a robust sustainability program at salesforce.com.
Now and then, you hear something about Walmart going green. But what does this really mean? Isn’t Walmart an evil mega-store known for selling low-quality products and treating its employees badly? So how can we trust their talk about sustainability? I learned more about this last weekend, at a Green Project Management seminar titled “The Tipping Point: Walmart’s Journey to Sustainability.” Sustainability strategist Mikhail Davis discussed Walmart’s commitment to sustainability, from his vantage point of having been one of the consultants who helped them in this effort. Continue reading “Is Walmart really green?”
Last Saturday, a group of Adobe employees, including myself (plus one person’s brother and another’s friend), rose early to brave the San Francisco fog. Why would we do such a thing? Naturally, to install solar panels for a low-income family! This was made possible by Adobe’s corporate sponsorship of GRID Alternatives, a local nonprofit whose aim is to empower communities in need by providing renewable energy and energy efficiency services, equipment, and training. Continue reading “Adobe volunteer day with GRID Alternatives”
We’ve all experienced the challenges of collaboration and communication in the workplace; those challenges are multiplying in our increasingly globalized working environments. And there’s a lot more to communicating than meets the eye; an important factor in workplace interactions is the social side of teams — which, after all, are made up of people. Given that having strong social ties is considered the greatest predictor of both happiness and the productivity and success of teams, this is not an area to overlook. Social connections help establish trust among team members and are key to working well together. Continue reading “Communication challenges in a dispersed workplace”
In a recent post I covered some of what my employer, Adobe Systems, is doing in the area of sustainability. I’m glad to note that we’re just one part of a larger trend in business. Many others are joining in as they see the effects of going green on their bottom line, and a recent MIT Sloan report finds that most businesses are anticipating “a world where sustainability is becoming a mainstream, if not required, part of the business strategy.” Continue reading “Auto companies embrace sustainability”
This post was originally published on The Energy Collective.
Those of us who live in California often have occasion to feel proud of our state’s leadership in the area of clean energy. The spring 2011 San Francisco Green Festival provided another such opportunity at the session on “Accelerating the Transition to Clean Energy,” with speakers Panama Bartholemy of the CA Energy Commission and Stephanie Wang from the Clean Coalition. Continue reading “California hopes to speed the transition to clean energy”
As someone interested in both project management and sustainability, I’ve been wondering how to bring the two together. And lately, I’ve been hearing a lot about green project management. But the discussion is often made up of questions — the main one being, What is green project management? Continue reading “What is green project management?”
I was delighted to be able to host last month’s EcoTuesday meeting at the San Francisco office of Adobe Systems, where I work as a Program Manager. The evening’s featured speaker was Erica Priggen, Executive Producer at Free Range Studios. This organization has a knack for conveying powerful messages in a concise, engaging, and entertaining manner and is responsible for such hits as the award-winning The Story of Stuff. At the EcoTuesday gathering, we got to see a sampling of their work. Continue reading “Green initiatives at Adobe”
I’m excited to report that the next San Francisco EcoTuesday gathering will be hosted at my workplace, the Adobe San Francisco office at 601 Townsend. EcoTuesday is a unique, structured monthly networking event for sustainable business leaders held concurrently in nine cities across the country. If you’re in the San Francisco Bay Area, I invite you to join me on March 22, 6:30 pm, for a fun and informative evening. Continue reading “EcoTuesday meeting March 22”
When I bought my used Smart Fortwo last year, I had in mind not only fuel efficiency but also ease of parking, a valuable feature for a car in San Francisco. And that has in fact proven to be a major bonus that I wouldn’t easily give up. I don’t drive enough to be that concerned about gas prices, but when I do drive, of course I like to know I’m driving a cleaner car. Continue reading “Smart car makes Greenest Vehicles list”
Project Green A to Z 