GLOBE Series

     I just learned about an interesting CSR-based project named GLOBE.  It has been in existence since 1990, and, as the name suggests, is an international collaboration. 

     A description on its website says "GLOBE draws the best and brightest of the international sustainable business community, making it an unsurpassed forum for learning and networking."  GLOBE is comprised of dozens of leaders in a variety of specialties: corporate sustainability, finance advisors, climate panels, and other institutional leaders who support and guide GLOBE in its initiatives.

     GLOBE's main offering is the summit it holds every two years in Vancouver, CA.  There it hosts thousands of companies and leaders with the goal of expanding environmental business innovation through networking and idea-spreading.  Its website describes the summit as "where leaders come to devise winning strategies to conserve resources, ignite innovation, and develop ideas and partnerships that help them be more resilient, more efficient, and reduce risk." 

     Examples of the innovations and solutions that result from the collaborations of GLOBE can be found on its website.  The project can also be followed on Twitter by @GLOBE_Series.

Glorious Garden

     I wanted to stick with the farming/gardening theme for this post and write about another fantastic garden that was on the Slow Food First Coast Tour de Farm: the University of North Florida's Ogier Gardens.
    
     The garden was founded on and continues to operate by principles of organic farming and sustainability.  It incorporates agroecology into its growing practices and grows a wide, unexpected variety of fruits and vegetables.  Plants include several different types of lettuces, herbs like moringa, root vegetables, citrus fruits, and there is even a tropical corner where garden staff experiment with fruits normally not found in north Florida's climate.

     Ogier Gardens is also committed to educating on "the importance of biodiversity, local food, and social justice in the food system," according to its website (all fantastic CSR examples).  It achieves this by myriad programs for students and volunteers, including Intro to Organic Gardening, Composting 101, Eat for the Planet, and Tea at Three, where participants can learn to dry their own herbs for tea.  The garden also accepts volunteers to come and work in a bed for an afternoon, or also a person or a group adopting their own bed to cultivate on a regular basis.

     Although anyone is welcome to participate in the garden, serving university students is Ogier Gardens' top priority.  It encourages all students to be involved, and donates produce to the university's Lend-A-Wing pantry program, which provides free food to food-insecure students.    

     If you're in northeast Florida and in the mood for some great gardening and learning, Ogier Gardens is the place to be.  You'll walk away having contributed to your health, others' health, and the planet's health.

Slow Food First Coast

     Today I am happy to write about an event going on where I currently live in Jacksonville, Fla.  It beautifully represents the sustainability and ethics aspects of CSR.  It's called Tour de Farm, and is part of the Slow Food First Coast movement.

 

 

     Slow Food is an international movement that began in Italy in 1986.  A group of activists wanted to return to the focus of enjoying good food made at a slow, intentional pace instead of the fast, processed direction food had moved toward over the previous decades. 

 

     The three guiding principles of the movement are good, clean and fair.  Food should be good for you and taste good naturally.  It should be produced in a way that minimizes harm to the environment.  Producers should be paid fair wages, and prices should also make the food accessible to consumers.  Sustainability and health for people and the environment are natural consequences of these principles. 

 

The photo shown at left was taken today at GYO Greens, one of the participating farms in the Tour de Farm. It demonstrates aquaponics, one of the sustainable farming practices of the slow food movement. That and the similar hydroponics are examples of permaculture, one of the leading production concepts in the slow food movement.  Permaculture means minimal space and resources (e.g. water) are used to grow food, and those resources can be reused not only at no additional cost to the environment, but also give back to the environment.


Supporting farms like this and principles of the slow food movement provides a host of benefits to growers, consumers and the planet.  Abiding by these principles helps to heal the planet of the burden humans have put on its natural resources, supports our essential farmers, and gives all of us tastier, healthier food!  Cheers!

CSR for employees

     Business Journal recently published a Gallup and Healthways study which reported on the combined factors of employee well-being and engagement.  These two factors contribute to the others' strength and increase not only employee performance, but also turnover rates and safety. 
    
     Gallup and Healthways used their research to define employee well-being in terms of five components: Purpose, Community, Financial, Social and Physical.  The more employees feel satisfied in each of these categories, the more likely they are to feel engaged in their work, and therefore perform better. 

     The statistics of highly engaged employees who felt a high sense of well-being were quite impressive:  they were 42% more likely to rate their lives highly, 27% more likely to rate "excellent" both their own performance and that of their company, and 37% more likely to report a full recovery after illness or injury.

     Given this data, the other aim of the research was to help employers figure out ways to increase employee well-being.  It was concluded that employers could encourage participation in well-being activities, recognize employees for well-being achievements, include employee ideas on workplace well-being initiatives, and explicitly connect well-being initiatives to one of the above mentioned five components.

     This study is a great representation of how internal CSR benefits everyone.  The more satisfied employees are, the more efficient business can be, which leads to more satisfied customers.

Here is a Google map of all pools in Jacksonville part of JaxParks Aquatics.

Jacksonville's best spots

This is a map created by my online emerging media class. It lists all the best non-chain eateries, bars and groceries of Jacksonville. I added BioMax Natural Foods, on Atlantic Blvd. in the town center of Atlantic Beach. It is a great supplement and natural foods store with an organic juice bar that makes it stand out.

CSR for government

     Recently, a friend asked me a question that another friend posed to him:  "What do you think could create the biggest change in government for the better?"  He gave me 30 seconds to think and answer.  Feeling the pressure, my mind started racing.  Just when my time was about up, it finally hit me: CSR.  The theme of this blog and my greatest area of interest in business. 

     It just makes sense.  Instead of basing decisions on political affiliation, why not base them on CSR.  Considering the components of CSR in every decision would inherently incorporate integrity into them.  If every policy were designed based on considerations of transparency/ethics, environmental impact, impact on all people involved, and the benefit it could bring to those it implicates, then the government would inherently be trying its best every time.

     It is quite the lofty goal, and I'm sure will only ever exist in my imagination.  Nonetheless, it is the answer I believe in. 

    What's yours?