Sunshine Coast, Gibsons and Sechelt, B.C. – a new kind of workshop is happening on the Sunshine Coast that reveals the Business of Sustainability as an economic driver. Taking the lead in sponsoring an upcoming half day workshop being held in two locations, one by simulcast, are the Sunshine Coast Regional District and Lehigh Materials, both of whom understand the importance of connecting the local business community to the opportunities that come with a sustainable approach.

This workshop encourages the Profit pillar in the three P’s of People, Profit and Planet and acknowledges that without that strength, the jobs and health of the region will flounder just as the environment can without due care with our resources.
“Coming from the business perspective, leading workshops in BC and as far away as Turkey, Greenomics is a good choice to deliver the message and provide businesses the tools they need to become more sustainable.” said Greenomics President, Erich Schwartz, “Businesses that embrace sustainability now will gain the competitive edge they need to thrive in a rapidly changing economy”.

“The SCRD recently adopted a region-wide Sustainability Plan that highlights the important role businesses play in supporting a sustainable Sunshine Coast. It is important to provide opportunities, like this workshop, for business owners and their staff to delve deeper into business practices that are good for people, the planet and the bottom line “ says Johan Stroman, Community Energy Manager with the SCRD. “Reducing business costs and saving energy while providing the same or better service is where this workshop can help. Workshops like these also help encourage networking and collaborative problem solving.”

Being in the extractive business puts a lot of focus on companies like Lehigh Materials to be good stewards with the environment, but the responsibility doesn’t stop there and being part of the economic viability on the coast as a major employer means they have to keep an eye on People and Profit, too. “Our organization recognizes the value of the triple bottom line approach. Extracting a non-renewable resource is not sustainable. We have been working hard with our partners to develop innovative ways to return the disturbed land to a usable state even if the cost of doing so is greater than the standard industry approach.” says Mike Latimer, Lehigh Materials Mine Manager. “You can do a lot within an organization to empower your people to help you spot the ways in which you can reduce waste, conserve energy and maximize opportunities, at work.”

Other sponsors, such as the District of Sechelt, IGA Gibsons, and the Gibsons and District Chamber of Commerce, want to be a part of the plan and encourage businesses to look for ways in which they can improve employee retention and engagement, energy use, supply chain optimization, and more, while reducing internal costs through efficiencies and smarter choices.

Greenomics will be presenting its overview of “The Business of Sustainability” to the Pender Harbour Rotary Club in Pender Harbour, British Columbia, at the Garden Bay Hotel.

Date: October 21, 2011, starting at 12:00 PM.

Join us for traditional pub food with a Sunshine Coast flair and beverages, and engage in a lively discussion of how businesses can proper by pursuing sustainable business practices. Discussion will be led by Greenomics president Erich Schwartz.

Registration Not Required

The National Round Table on the Environment and the Economy (NRTEE) is convening opinion leaders and experts from across Canada around their table to share their knowledge and diverse perspectives. The objective is to stimulate debate and integrate polarities. NRTEE is creating a context for possibilities to emerge by meeting Canadians from every region of the country to engage in deliberations. The NRT is the only national organization with a direct mandate from the Canadian Parliament to engage Canadians in the generation and promotion of sustainable development, advice, and solutions.

Greenomics president, Erich Schwartz, will attend and will be presenting the rational for getting businesses engaged in policy making, community involvement, and environmental responsibility.

It’s harvest time for us northern folk and many of us are gathering in public markets, scouring the berry bushes by the side of the road, and reaping the benefits of our balcony or backyard gardens. Fresh, tasty, and personally satisfying; but, is it any better than mass produced food from large efficient food producers? For us, we look at growing food through the sustainability lens which emphasises profit, people, and planet. Is growing food organically really profitable while at the same time helping people and improving the environment? We also anticipate how industries being challenged by the sustainability revolution respond, and organic food is rapidly undermining the market currently dominated by Nestlé, Unilever, and Monsanto. How will they protect their share and maintain profitability?

Before we get into the meat of this article, we must first note that we are deliberately avoiding the use of “conventional’ to describe mass food production techniques. This is because ‘conventional’ is something that has emerged in the past 50 years or so, and as such does not deserve the use of such a foundational word. Current farming (production) techniques are new, whereas ‘organic’ farming has been in existence from the time we started shifting from a nomadic to an agricultural society – long ago. So, organic food should actually be considered conventional, and current mass production techniques should be considered an experiment. While the food production experiment has led to massive increases in food production, efficiency gains, and reduced costs, we are we still returning to traditional organic farming and at a growth rate comparable to China’s GDP.

While organic food and beverages represented only 4% of total U.S. sales in 2010, it has grown from $1 billion in 1990 to $26.7 billion in 2010. Recent growth rates of 7.7% overall and 11.8% for fruits and vegetables from 2009 to 2010 are impressive and make an investor’s heart all warm and fuzzy. But its not just food! Organic non-food products grew 9.7% in 2010 for total sales of $1.97 billion. This translates into 54% of organic food being sold in mainstream grocery stores, 39% being sold in “Natural retailers, and the remaining through farmer’s markets, boutique and specialty stores.

Organic food growers are also competing for growing space. In 2008 there were 4.8 million acres of land certified as organic in the U.S., and was growing at 15% annually from 2002 to 2008. Globally, there were 93 million organic acres in 2009, and growing. While still slightly less than 1% of overall land used for growing food, it is growing annually at 6%, and this rate is expected to increase as the global recovery from the 2009 recession continues.

While the growth is impressive and shows promise of expanding, are we really moving toward food production that is actually more sustainable? Growing food organically is profitable, but is it actually beneficial socially and environmentally?

Social Benefits

There are numerous social benefits associated with growing food organically which we roll into health, employment, and the catch all ‘well-being’. In terms of health, research from around the world indicates organic food has the highest amounts of beneficial vitamins, amino acids, and minerals. It also indicates that pesticides have a negative impact on our health and there is a reduction of pesticide intake in children who are fed organic foods. Further, more people per food grown are employed in more meaningful ways compared to efficient factory food production. Finally, there is increased sense of community and well being reported by people who shop at farmer’s markets.

Environmental Benefits

The environmental benefits are equally impressive when growing food organically. Soil, ground water, river, lakes, rivers, the atmosphere and the ocean are not excessively exposed to pesticides, fertiliser run-off, manure, and antibiotics. Further, there is approximately a 30% decrease in greenhouse gases produced compared to factory production, primarily due to not using fossil fuel based fertilisers. There is the additional benefit of the soil retaining more carbon in the soil.

Responding to the Challenge

So the argument that growing food organically has economic, social, and environmental benefits not realized in factory food production methods seems sound. But, what about the businesses that having been profiting using factory methods and how will they respond to this 3-pronged assault? Many will respond through acquisitions, as we have seen with the 85% acquisition of Stonyfield Farms by Groupe Danone, and AEA Investors acquisition of Burt’s Bees. Others will take routes that may not be in the best social or environmental interests. Remember plastic bags?

In the past few years countries, states, and provinces have started banning plastic bags. In 2010, a study supported by the American Chemistry Council presented the argument that reusable grocery bags can be breeding grounds for dangerous food born bacteria and could pose a serious threat to our health. This introduced an element of fear that may have made some legislators rethink banning plastic bags.

Similarly, existing industries may support campaigns that highlight potentially negative issues associated with growing organic food. Cost is already a well known issue, but given Canada and the US pay the least amount per capita for our food, a slight increase will not really affect us. Another approach might be to raise doubt about the ability of organically gown food being able to supply the world’s growing population. However, given the food industry’s dependence on fossil fuels, which are finite in supply and their use is the single greatest contribution to climate change, we need to find another way to feed ourselves one way or another. Other arguments we can anticipate being introduced may include concerns over quality (did you notice that spot on your apple?), consistency (my McDonald’s fries taste funny in Hong Kong compared to New York!), and availability (sorry, no blueberries in Canada in January).

While we can expect such developments, we have to remember that it comes down to values. Do we want food grown in a way that works with the environment, enables people to lead more meaningful lives, and allows more people to share in the profits? Or do we want our food grown in a manner that centralizes profits, devastates the environment, and dissociates people from the creation of a fundamental need? Something to keep in mind when browsing the grocery store or farmer’s market, and making decisions about what values you want to support.

This summer gave us time to conduct our annual review our own performance using our scoring system that is based on international standards such as ISO 26000, ISO 14000, amongst others. We maintain our carbon neutrality through tree planting and supporting community gardens, are paperless (essentially), use minimum electricity and other resources, create no toxins and meet most of the other criteria. However, we have not officially identified a program to help the environment recover from some of the damages that have been inflected upon it. So, we decided that would be our focus for this year, and as such have identified an innovative approach that is in its preliminary stages, but is already having a measurable and visible positive affect: herring enhancement.

To the north west of Vancouver are Howe Sound and the Sunshine Coast, which used to support abundant herring populations. Until the mid 20^th-century, there was an uninterrupted abundance of herring which not only supplied people with food, oil, and fertilizer, they also supported other species such as salmon and dolphins. However, due to over-fishing that started in the 1930s and with the introduction of creosote soaked pilings (which prevent herring eggs from hatching), the populations collapsed, the fishing industry died, salmon populations decreased, and dolphins disappeared from the region.

Looking at the sound today there does not appear to be anything wrong. However, we are fortunate to have the accounts of the First Nations who remember as children waking in their villages at night and seeing the waters filled with lights from the fleets that used to harvest the herring bounty.The Canadian Department of Fisheries and Ocean (DFO) recorded the collapse of the herring fisheries in 1967 noting an ongoing disruption of their numbers and the lack of viable spawning areas. The DFO instituted a four-year closure of the fishery followed by strict quotas for harvesting, though no recorded efforts to restore their populations were implemented.

Reaching out to the community, we discovered the Squamish Streamkeepers, who were established in the fall of 2000 with the mission to “maintain and enhance riparian habitat of our local streams so that fish, especially Salmon (adults, smolts, and fry), can navigate streams and successfully spawn. This not-for-profit organization is comprised of a wide variety of local volunteers interested in taking an active role in the preservation and protection of the Squamish River Watershed. While focused on the Squamish River Estuary, they are very willing to share their knowledge and experiences.

How successful have they been? While the herring run has been restored in parts of the estuary and they are expanding into other regions, the most visible result is the appearance of pods of white-sided dolphins. Locals do not remember ever seeing dolphins in Howe Sound, but we know they used to be there and now they are back. In fact, this year three pods were spotted, with each pod comprised of hundreds of dolphins to the delight of ferry passengers, locals, and boaters. See the results yourself!

Not wanting to reinvent the wheel, Greenomics has chosen to work with both the Squamish Streamkeepers and the Pender Harbour Rotary Club (which has been working with the Streamkeepers to reintroduce the herring into Pender Harbour). The area we’ve chosen is around the town of Gibsons, we will build on what has already been learned, and will monitor our efforts over the next several years. We will also be working with the Town of Gibsons to incorporate our efforts into the Official Harbour Plan and embed its support, and will monitor and report our results as they unfold.