Business & Environ. Newletter

After seven years at York, Business & Environment program co-founder and sustainability pioneer David Wheeler is leaving York’s Schulich School of Business and heading for Halifax, where he will become Dean of the Faculty of Management at Dalhousie University. Dr. Wheeler was the Erivan K. Haub Professor of Business and Sustainability at York, and founding director of the York Institute for Research and Innovation in Sustainability (IRIS), involving all ten faculties at York. He was also an original faculty member of the Sustainable Enterprise Institute, seeded by the Haub endowment. Previously he had been director of social programs for The Body Shop International.

Dr. Wheeler taught the core courses of the B&E program—Business Strategies for Sustainability, and Management Practices for Sustainable Business, and supervised the work of many FES B&Eers in the realms of corporate social responsibility, enterprise strategy in the 3rd World, corporate sustainability performance, and more. Well-liked and universally-admired, Dr. Wheeler was an inspiration to scores of FES students, and will be greatly missed. We wish him the best of luck in his exciting new position.

David’s successor as IRIS director is Dr. Dawn Bazely, an internationally-recognized ecologist who has done field research in many different ecosystems, and who is currently leading an interdisciplinary project based in Canada, Norway and Russia on human security in the Arctic, specifically the impact of oil and gas development on people and ecosystems. Dawn is an enthusiastic champion of York’s interdisciplinary spirit, and we expect the young IRIS initiative to make great strides under her.

Toronto delegation attends 4th annual BALLE conference

York FES was well-represented at the fourth annual conference of the fastest growing business network in North America—the Business Alliance for Local Living Economies—held this year in Burlington Vermont June 8-11. Toronto’s young BALLE network—known as Green Enterprise Toronto (GET)—was participating in its first BALLE conference, and its delegation included Brian Milani and MES candidates Brendan Biddlecom and Josh Ward. The Toronto contingent also included GET coordinator Chris Lowry, ecopreneur Kate Holloway, community animator & businesswoman Kathy Killinger, and Buffalo First organizer Amy Kidron. Brendan, a Buffalo native, also represented Buffalo First (see report below).

BALLE emerged from the Social Venture Network in late 2001 to encourage community-based economies through support for locally-owned independent business. It spread rapidly to socially-progressive cities like Boston, Philadelphia, Austin, Portland, San Francisco and Vancouver, and in the last year has virtually exploded—with 32 local networks represented at the Vermont conference and over a dozen more in the process of organization. BALLE is preparing to double the 32 affiliates before next year’s conference in San Francisco to over 60, and double that number again in the following year.

FES B&E coordinator Brian Milani attended the 2005 conference in Vancouver to explore possibilities for a Toronto network. He was impressed and, with the backing of the Coalition for a Green Economy and other community economic development and green business people, a decision was soon made to launch a network here. Chris Lowry agreed to act as its full-time coordinator, and the local group co-sponsored a pre-launch event at the October 2005 Canadian Society for Ecological Economics (CANSEE) conference at York—an event that featured BALLE co-founder David Korten, author of When Corporations Rule the World, The Post-Corporate World, and The Great Turning. The newly christened Green Enterprise Toronto (GET) held its first major Forum for prospective members June 22, just two weeks after the Vermont conference (see story below).

The Vermont conference was twice the size of the previous year’s Vancouver conference, and was completely sold out at 475 attendees weeks before. Featured speakers included Korten, Michael Shuman, Judy Wicks (White Dog Café), Frances Moore Lappe (Diet for a Small Planet), Bill McKibben (The End of Nature), Ben Cohen (Ben & Jerry’s), Rep. Bernie Sanders (D-VT), Omar Freilla (Green Worker Co-ops), Kevin Danaher (Global Exchange), Bernard Lietaer (The Future of Money), Hunter Lovins (Natural Capitalism), and others.

Preconference activities included day-long seminars on Local First campaigns (BALLE’s core strategy) and on Community Currencies—the latter organized by the EF Schumacher Society and featuring a braintrust of alternative money innovators like Bernard Lietaer, Thomas Greco, Susan Witt and Edgar Cahn (Time Dollars). Workshops and breakout session during the regular conference featured cutting-edge alternatives in local energy systems, green building, sustainable food systems, local economic development, retail revitalization, finance for business, green business practices, ownership structures, fair trade, waste-to-wealth, business evaluation/certification systems, and even local stock exchanges. The latter is an innovative project being piloted in San Francisco, combining the expertise of BALLE and the Natural Capitalism Institute, intended to be launched next year.

Members of our Buffalo/Toronto contingent agreed that it was one of the most stimulating conferences we had ever attended, providing more ideas, strategies and connections than even the most well-informed of us could have imagined beforehand. There was a feeling pervading the weekend that we were experiencing something historically significant—the mainstreaming of a business movement that is not simply “balancing” financial, environmental and social bottom lines, but making community, economic justice and ecological regeneration the primary drivers of a new kind of development.

For FESers (whether officially in the B&E program or not), the rapid growth of this community business movement provides great new opportunities for research, innovation, activism and internship—in key sectors like food, energy, building, recycling, investment and more. Stay tuned for upcoming initiatives and events. And, in the meantime, review BALLE’s core principles.

The Small-Mart Revolution Comes to Toronto: Shuman headlines GET Forum

Toronto’s new BALLE network, Green Enterprise Toronto (GET), emphatically announced its presence June 22 with its first Forum for members and prospective members at the Osgoode Professional Development Centre, on the 26th floor of 1 Dundas West at Yonge. The Forum was held in conjunction with a conference of the Centre for Social Innovation—with a joint dinner that night concluding the Forum and opening the CSI seminar. The GET Forum drew over 60 enthusiastic participants from enterprises in the private, nonprofit and cooperative sectors, as well as municipal government, and featured the public release of GET’s needs assessment survey of scores of progressive local business, entitled How to Grow the New Economy: The Voice of Toronto's Green Entrepreneurs.

Keynote speaker in both afternoon and evening was Michael Shuman, a BALLE cofounder, former director of the Institute for Policy Studies, and author of the groundbreaking new book, The Small-Mart Revolution: How local businesses are beating the global competition (Berrett-Koehler, 2006). Shuman’s afternoon keynote to GET was a tour de force of the content of his new book, highlighting the importance of the local to any kind of authentic economic development and to sustainability. The development benefits of large corporate business—in terms of jobs, quality of life, tax revenues, etc—were, he argued, largely illusory; and the competitive dominance of the global corporations has depended primarily on the massive subsidization, direct and indirect, of corporate enterprise by governments, local, state/provincial and federal.

Attention: Wayne Roberts in NOW magazine:

The End of Big Biz: In the new epoch of capitalism, big-box bullies will be no more, says Small-Mart guru

Shuman’s dinner presentation to both GET and CSI delegates was a clarion call for the financial and political independence of the nonprofit and social enterprise sectors. Reiterating themes first made in his controversial 2005 article in The Nation (Profits for Justice), Shuman said the nonprofit sector had to free itself from its dependence on foundations and governments, and start creating its own for-profit enterprises. Developing mechanisms to finance local independent business, he said, is perhaps the greatest challenge for the small-mart revolution—along with eliminating the handouts given to big business—and this is one reason why he is involved in helping create a local stock exchange in San Francisco.

The topic of investment was also a primary topic of a panel in the afternoon Forum, which focused on access to capital by small business. Tim Draiman of Tides Canada Foundation, Jens Lohmueller of Ontario’s Credit Union Central, Bill Young of Social Capital Partners, and Kate Holloway (left) of Village Financial Cooperative explored existing and potential options for green entrepreneurs. Marketing was the focus of another fascinating panel, featuring Ryan Merkeley of Antfarm Social Architects, Jennifer Wright of Green Shift, and Grant Gordon of Key Gorden Communications. In addition to making brief individual presentations, the panel served as expert commentators for a case study examination of another innovative social venture, the Social Purchasing Portal, set up by Learning Enrichment Foundation. The case study session was clearly inspired by the format developed by the Social Venture Institutes (SVIs) with which many BALLE organizers have been involved. GET is planning full-fledged Institutes of its own in the future as part of its educational and networking activities.

Michael Shuman’s visit to Toronto afforded him the opportunity to consult with GET organizers and supporters about local network development strategy. Before leaving June 23, Shuman met with a dozen Torontonians at Centre for Social Innovation (215 Spadina) for a breakfast brainstorming session. Participants included (from left to right) Larry Rooney (Phoenix Community Works), Wayne Roberts (Food Policy Council), Rose Kudlac (WindShare/Post Carbon Institute), Michael Shuman, Sonja Persram (Coalition for a Green Economy), Mike Dunbar (York FES/GET Research), Lori Stahlbrand (Local Flavours Plus), Brian Milani (FES B&E), Michael Schreiner (Local Flavours Plus), Chris Lowry (GET coordinator), David Berman (Toronto Dollar). [Not in photo: David Walsh (Carrot Common), Margie Zeidler (Urban Space Property Group) and Michael Berger (C4GE & photographer)]. Topics discussed included green market initiatives, government procurement and venture capital. One key practical proposal was for a Gift Card that could be used to simultaneously support local business, generate awareness about local development, and provide a measure of financial self-reliance for the GET network. The Gift Card seems likely to be one of the strategic foci of GET in the next six months—along with building membership and fleshing out its sectoral organization, particularly in its key “building block” areas of the food system, green building, and the energy sector. Michael also has suggestions for GET Research priorities—designed both to increase knowledge about the local economy, and to supply information necessary for GET campaigns and organization.

This area, research, has some relevance to students at FES who may be able to benefit from the new network’s substantial needs for research on the local economy, on alternative development indicators, on green product information, on green tools & best practices, and on new business models in various sectors.

B&E sightings: While Mike Dunbar, who has just completed a Major Paper on sustainability and the food system, attended the strategy session with Michael Shuman; recent MES grads Peter Howard, now working at 0Footprint, and Chantel Dalgliesh, now with greenTbiz, participated in the GET Forum.

Note from GLOBE 2006

by Rachel Moscovich, MES III

This spring I had the opportunity to attend the GLOBE 2006 business and environment conference in Vancouver. I was one of five students from across Canada chosen to be ECO-Canada Student Ambassadors. ECO-Canada (Environmental Careers Organization) assists students and job seekers in finding employment in the environmental field. Their annual Student Ambassador Award Program is designed to provide the opportunity for students to present posters displaying their environmental research at a world-class conference on business and environment.

My poster displayed my ongoing research on the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics and sustainability, namely, the efforts of the organizers to reduce harm and increase benefits to the socio-cultural, environmental and economic fabric of Vancouver and the region. By participating in the conference, I was able to meet key figures who are responsible for integrating sustainability into the plans for the Games, to hear their presentations, and to share my poster and my ideas with them.

The GLOBE 2006 conference was a spectacular event, offering the chance to meet students and practitioners in the environmental field from around the world, and to hear from a broad range of leaders and visionaries who are blazing trails in integrating business and environment. The four main Conference Themes were (1) corporate sustainability, (2) finance and sustainability, (3) energy and the environment, and (4) building better cities.

As noted above, Rachel is doing her Major Paper work on the preparations for the 2010 Winter Olympics, near her home in Vancouver. Rachel’s B&E Internship was with Toronto’s 0Footprint, for which she did some innovative organizing and writing. See her essay on the Olympic movement and sustainability on the 0Footprint site.

Buffalo First Takes Off

by Brendan Biddlecom, MES II

Brendan Biddlecom, who obtained his Bachelors degree at Oberlin, is at the end of his first full year in the MES program. At the March 2 Sustainability Networking Reception at Schulich, Brendan was presented with 1st Prize in the OFootprint-sponsored Small Idea that Can Change the World competition. His small Big Idea was entitled Eco-Lawn Initiative and Low Maintenance Landscape Design Competition. Taking to heart E.F. Schumacher’s advice to “pursue small on a large scale,” Brendan didn’t rest on his laurels, but has moved to foment the Small-Mart Revolution in his hometown. Buffalo FIRST!, an organization he has recently helped establish, is working to build long-term economic empowerment and community self-reliance in Western New York by promoting local business ownership, economic justice, cultural diversity, and environmental stewardship.

Buffalo First! initially coalesced around a shared interest between local business leaders and community activists who were exploring the feasibility of launching a complimentary currency system to keep more wealth circulating in the region and less from leaking out. After several months of meetings it was finally decided that the first step should be to develop a strong membership base of local retailers and producers interested in sharing resources to give any currency system that might be launched legitimacy and broad-based support.

So with that, I—along with University at Buffalo Law student and Buffalo FIRST! co-founder Amy Kedron—launched a "Buy Local," campaign that aims to educate consumers about the various social and economic benefits that arise when purchasing decisions are steered toward local, independently-owned businesses.

Other goals of the initiative are to provide a platform for businesses with a commitment to sustainability to network and share best practices; devise strategies to help underemployed individuals become more actively engaged in the economy; and advocate public policies that strengthen independent local businesses, promote economic equity, and protect the environment.

Local, independently-owned businesses make more purchases locally and being that they often set up shop in city centers, they generate less sprawl, congestion, habitat loss and pollution. On the social side, they provide as much as 3 ½ times greater support to non-profits than do non-local firms and keep our downtown shopping centers unique. Economically, they provide the most new jobs to residents and keep significantly more wealth that is generated in our region from leaking out. By helping Buffalo’s businesses and citizens become aware of the benefits of ‘going local,’ it is our hope that we will be able to introduce more cutting-edge tools such as complimentary currencies and loyalty cards to help create a region that is truly self-reliant.

At this writing in early July, our group is only in its third week of outreach, but the response from the local business community has been overwhelmingly positive, with over two dozen businesses from throughout the city already signed-on. It's our goal to recruit at least one hundred fifty businesses to be included in an online and print business directory by the fall, culminating in a "Buy Local Week" during the start of the Holiday shopping season. The message to "Think Local. Buy Local. Be Local" will be spread through a mass marketing campaign (print, radio, online, and in-store advertisements), and will be highlighted with several fun and entertaining events throughout the city (book signings with local authors; gallery openings featuring local artists; "Buffalo FIRST" Bashes, featuring local food, drinks, and entertainers; etc.) If you'd like to learn more, check out the websites of Buffalo FIRST! and the Business Alliance for Local Living Economies, where you find links to "Local First" campaigns happening in other parts of the country.

Contribute to the FES Business & Environment Newsletter

This issue is the first of a continuing series. It is intended to provide news, context, communication and continuity for York B&E students, but may also be of interest to many others, inside or outside the Faculty, who share our bias toward survival, justice, community and positive regeneration. The newsletter can be a means of B&E students staying in touch with what others in the program are doing. Hopefully you will supply us with news, descriptions of your internships and research, links, and more. Of particular interest is information that can help MESers develop research interests and skills that can practically contribute to green development, especially in the Toronto bioregion. The more relevant our research becomes, the more opportunities—internships, research grants, jobs, connections—will come our way.

If you have material or ideas for the newsletter, please contact Brian at ( bmilani at web.ca )

"More than any time in history mankind faces a crossroads. One path leads to

despair and utter hopelessness, the other to total extinction. Let us pray that

we have the wisdom to choose correctly."

---Woody Allen