We entered the huge, well-appointed ballroom for the plenary speeches. A glowing centre stage fit for a TV talk show, with five overstuffed chairs was flanked by video screens. The lighting was dramatic, the sound and pacing polished. The crowd eager to get to the 7pm cocktails. But there was both inspiration and optimism in […]

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Session 2: Measuring Your Social Footprint Mark McElroy, Executive Director, Chief Sustainability Officer, The Center for Sustainable Innovation  Every once in a while I feel like I’m back in school. This session was thick with black-on-white arial-font powerpoint slides, complex theories and TLA’s* (*Three Letter Acronyms), unfortunately scheduled during my usual afternoon digestive nap-time. Before […]

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Monday June 2, Session 1: Desirability & Sustainability: The opportunity for brand and design Steve Bishop, IDEO – Design firm based in Palo Alto – 8 offices, 500 people www.ideo.com Green Briefs readers who wanted to send me to this event: 27.3% (first place in category)   This session started off right away with a brainstorming […]

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Monday June 2 I cycled up to the Conference Centre at the Hyatt. As usual, no bike rack in sight. Once inside though, more sustainable thinking was definitely in evidence. Hunter Sasser, one of the organizers, introduced me to the various green aspects of the show materials: Shirts – Organic cotton by Edun Live Bags […]

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Thanks to everyone who answered the survey on what I should see and blog about from Sustainable Brands 08. Here are the winners. (Stay tuned to see if I actually listen!) Monday June 2: Morning: Desirability and Sustainability: the Opportunity for Brand and Design – 26.1% Afternoon: Measuring Your Social Footprint – 13.1% Tuesday June 3: […]

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Sunday June 1, 2008 6:00am – Mouth tastes like reclaimed greywater. Amtrak coffee changes this taste, but does not substantially improve it. 8:00 AM – Breakfast of high-fat French toast with high-corn-fructose syrup and nitrate-preservative-drenched sausage patties may help. I wolf this down as we rumble by the abandoned asbestos-laden rusting battleship hulks and refineries […]

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10:30 AM – migrate to the observation car. More glass, more views. Ranger Clint from the National Park Trails & Rails program  commentates on the natural and cultural sites as we chug past Puget Sound. This is a nice touch – a rolling play-by-play to the widescreen panorama. A bald eagle lifts off and paces the train […]

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4:45 AM – Even the birds are rolling over for another hour of sleep. The taxi shows up to take me to the Main Street Station for my 5:30 bus to Seattle, and as though by design, it’s a Prius hybrid. Vancouver’s Terminal Station looks proud in the rising eastern glow of a cloudless travel […]

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So what would YOU choose to go see at Sustainable Brands 08? The issues are broad and diverse: Sustainable design, the social footprint, retaining talent, green building, de-commoditizing, re-branding, sustainable packaging, green wine, greenwash… how to decide? What the heck, unlike most North American Governments, I’m willing to try democracy. I elect YOU, my fearless […]

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I began my pre-trip journey on the Carbon Footprint calculator, adding up the emissions for my various travel options from Vancouver BC to Monterey CA. Distance: 2,810 km CO2 emissions if traveling by air: .67 tonnes CO2 emissions if traveling by car (@ 9L/100km): .586 tonnes CO2 emissions if traveling by rail: .169 tonnes (about the weight of my carry-on) This made […]

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