Category: Sustainability

I just booked my tickets to visit the Sustainable Living Festival in Melbourne next month. It is very exciting to get back to the roots of where my passion came from. Flying Green While I booked the plane ticket, they gave me the option to offset my carbon emissions. Pretty exciting on one hand that it has come into such a mainstream process. On the other hand, I wonder how much difference that really makes. If it becomes so easy to pay (It was only $2.87 or something), there is no need to venture further and find the real…

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One of the organisations on my list is ecoBiz, a government run consultancy service that helps businesses implement sustainability in 3 areas: Energy, Waste and Water. They facilitate a 6 step process: Company applies to join ecoBiz Company develops baseline to compare eco-efficiency improvement against Site survey to identify opportunities for positive ecological impact Development of action plan of how to implement these solutions Implementation (There is also the potential of a rebate of up to 30% of the investment) Reassessment (after one year) to assess the savings. No overall financial analysis available I asked Michelle Olivier whether they…

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I have shown before why I think that business is the solution to making sustainability widely available. I have also shown that sustainable solutions need to be good for people and planet as well as rendering a profit. Now I want to find out what the status quo is. Are there existing solutions that achieve that? Are there businesses who have implemented the solutions and see a positive impact on their bottom line? Does being green to profit work? I want to start researching the business case from three angles: Businesses that are providing sustainable solutions Businesses that have…

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Why would business be a good sustainability advocate? Because they can act more logically than an individual. They can also take into account a more long-term view and their actions have a bigger impact. Making Logical Decisions Humans make buying decisions on emotion. They might use logic to explain to themselves why they should buy something, but the essential decision is made emotionally. In business this is different. A business is for profit. Therefore any purchasing decision is made based on its financial merit. If it does not increase the revenue or reduce the costs (thus leading to greater…

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Not for Profit Organisations First of all there are the countless volunteers and activists in not for profit organisations. Thank you, thank you, thank you for the work you put in. As far as I have experienced that field the main focus in on educating people. Education is usually focused on creating a more integrated understanding of sustainability. And on creating values that are more long-term focused. Even though highly important, the issue I see with it is that humans are inherently lazy and short-sighted. Unless something is glaringly obvious or has an immediate impact on us, it is…

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“Sustainability is a characteristic of a process or state that can be maintained at a certain level indefinitely.” according to Wikipedia.   The process I am interested in is that of humans living on planet Earth. There are 3 major components: People, the planet and profits. Profits I need to start with the end. Profits are the driving motor for our global community. It is also what drives each individual in each interaction. What I mean is that whatever we do, we try to benefit from it. In each interaction we put in time and effort and maybe money…

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2004 – I finish off my Master in Business Administration. I also spend a year working with an inventor who has developed a safety device for the trucking industry. 2005 – Next I set up my own company (Passionate Management) to coach natural health practitioners on how to market their practices. And most importantly, our daughters (Marlalena and Amelie) join our family. This is a big focus of my life and I am thankful I can take the time to spend with them, seeing them develop into their own personalities. We move into a house, put in solar hotwater,…

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The Sustainable Living Festival turns into an annual event for the first time. It attracts over 50 volunteers in responsible positions during preparation. 160 exhibitors show their sustainable solutions to 120,000 visitors. Our core team of 8 full-timers, who all took the risk of potentially not being paid all get their due. The last 12 months have been an amazing ride through joy and frustration. Some of the sponsoring companies were absolutely amazing at supporting this huge volunteer effort, others had to be dragged to the party. I realise that it is a lot more comfortable to have a…

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