Archive by Author
Hurry! Register Today to Receive the 50% Early-Bird Discount!
Posted on 08. Aug, 2011 by OppGreen Insights.
Early registration is NOW OPEN for the 5th Annual Opportunity Green – the premier sustainable event happening November 10-11, 2011 at Los Angeles Center Studios. Sign-up before August 16th to receive the 50% early-bird discount, while it’s still available.
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A Second Look at Two Innovative Household Cleaners Featured at Opportunity Green 2010
Posted on 12. May, 2011 by OppGreen Insights.
When we buy those plastic bottles of cleaning product, we are really paying for large amounts of water. This also comes at a higher cost for the planet because of the greenhouses gases emitted during transport. Those bottles have virtually looked the same since they were introduced in the 1960s. Fifty years later, don’t you think we should have come up with a smarter, better way to do this?
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Top Ten Green News Stories of April 2011
Posted on 04. May, 2011 by OppGreen Insights.
OG|10: Green News Monthly Roundup featuring the top ten green news stories from April 2011 as followed and covered by Opportunity Green.
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Meet the Opportunity Green Insights Blog Contributors!
Posted on 08. Jan, 2011 by OppGreen Insights.
Karen Solomon (@Oppgreen)
In honor of its 70th anniversary, Glamour Magazine featured Karen as one of the 70 women they considered to be environmental leaders and heroes. She was honored in 2009 & 2010 by the Los Angeles Business Journal at the Women Who Mean Business Awards and the 2009 recipient of the International Green Dot Award for Community and Policy. As CEO, Karen serves as a human hub for connecting great minds, nurturing extraordinary talent and promoting the best and the brightest players. Her vast experience and progressive vision have played an instrumental role in the rapid growth that has taken OG from a local green business conference to a global brand.
Jessie Babiarz
Jessie Babiarz is originally from Middlebury, Vermont. After receiving her BA studying Sociology and Mathematics at Ithaca College, Jessie wanted to get away from the snow. She moved to Los Angeles in 2006 and began working at the UCLA Center for the Study of Women, specializing in conference planning, financial management and awards and grants administration. After fully realizing her passion for the environment, Jessie applied to graduate schools, planning to focus on opportunities in business and sustainability. She is currently studying for an MBA at USC, where she will graduate in 2012. Aside from sustainability, her passions include being active, spending time outdoors, and cooking delicious vegetarian meals at home. She can often be found using one of LA’s various forms of public transportation, even though she has a car.
Christopher Bay
A Los Angeles native with nature in his blood, Chris has experience and education in marketing, public relations and sustainable development. He is a researcher with the Natural Urban Systems Group at TreePeople in Los Angeles. A student of the permaculture arts, Chris is currently designing and helping to develop a few backyard edible gardens as well as offering his time as an apprentice on a organic farm.
Chris has been known to cover all-things sustainable; however, he has a “sweet tooth” for developments in urban food systems and organic farming. In his writing with OG, he aspires to reduce his ego to ensure a broadened readership and happier life. Chris also writes for examiner.com as a green living examiner and with the Santa Barbara Independent as an environment/newsroom journalist.
Johanna Björk (@Goodlifer) 
Johanna Björk is the founder and publisher of Goodlifer, a web-based magazine dedicated to sharing ideas and insights into a future that is positive, enthusiastic, sustainable, achievable and bright. She believes that all truly good ideas are inherently sustainable and reports on innovative people, companies and organizations that are part of a global movement towards a conscious redefinition of “the good life”. Björk is a leading expert and commentator on health & wellness, design, eco-fashion, DIY culture and sustainable living. She moved to the U.S. from her native Sweden at the dawn of the new millennium, lived and worked seven years in Miami, four in Brooklyn, NY and recently moved to Ojai, CA in pursuit of the good life.
Michael Chapdelaine
From naturalist to engineer to producer to writer, Michael Chapdelaine has a longstanding interest in philosophies, technology and social structures for planetary stewardship. A relentless recycler, he is particularly attuned to the growing conflict of consumption-based economies in a resource-limited world and the challenge of sustainability. As a record-setting powerlifter, he is also a walking advocate for physical fitness supported by organic foods and natural products. Michael received his BS in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Southern California.
Sarah Hadburg
Sara Glaser 
Executive Producer, 1st Assistant Director, Social Activist, Sara Glaser received a BA in Cinema from San Francisco State University. Upon moving to Los Angeles she immersed herself in the life of film production. She has worked as a 1st AD on a number of projects including cause-oriented independent features and state-funded documentaries. In addition, Sara also involves herself in field organizing on grassroots political campaigns. She has been described as “Dedicated, hard-working, and capable of demonstrating amazing grace under tremendous pressure.”
Glaser’s social activism efforts are dedicated to the protection and enjoyment of Earth’s ecosystems and stem from the belief that restructuring the relationships between communities and local and state governments can optimize performance, transparency, and accountability to ultimately achieve positive social gains in a financially sustainable ways. She will soon earn a M.B.A. in Sustainable Management with which she will continue producing cause-oriented films and building skills to facilitate the creation of positive change agents in business and society.
Patrick Haase
Patrick Haase is an environmental writer and commentator with a focus on legal and policy issues. He previously worked in government relations where he consulted with business leaders and government officials to implement environmental policy. He received his law degree from the University of South Carolina School of Law and a Master’s in Environmental Law and Policy from Vermont Law School. In addition to his work with OG, Patrick writes a daily column for his website, SDlandusedaily.com, where he covers land use and sustainability issues in Southern California.
Kristall Lutz, CMP 
With over a decade of corporate meeting planning and account management experience, Kristall Lutz, CMP is excited to bring her expertise to Opportunity Green as the Director of Strategic Alliances. As the Director of Events for Magazine Publishers of America in New York, she was responsible for more than 50 events a year ranging from intimate luncheons with United States Senators, annual conferences, trade shows, and gala awards shows. She’s worked with everyone from President Obama and President Clinton to Jon Stewart and Martha Stewart. Her expertise spans the “A to Z” of event and account management, seamlessly orchestrating superior events from conception to post-event evaluation. Two of her annual events were recognized as Top 5 Media Industry Events and Top 100 Events in New York City by BizBash Magazine all five years of her tenure with MPA. An avid reader and writer, Kristall will also contribute to the OG Social Media team and Opportunity Green Insights blog. She is excited to learn more about sustainable practices that can be applied to all aspects of business and personal life.
Jen Üner
Jen Üner develops meaningful partnerships and creative activation programs for sponsors of Opportunity Green. She is the founder and principal of Egg Productions, a boutique agency that helps companies launch new brands, products and business initiatives. Jen brings more than 20 years of experience in business development, marketing communications and event production to her clients in online and offline media, business services and lifestyle goods. Before applying her energies to her current clients and projects, she launched “the edge at MAGIC” (a progressive lifestyle trade show) at the world’s largest apparel marketplace; pioneered style online with one of the web’s first fashion destinations, ShoppingTheWorld; gave voice to REALTOR® products at MOVE, Inc; transformed the brand of LA’s wholesale hub, the California Market Center; and founded both the Los Angeles Fashion Awards and FashionWeekLA.com. With Egg Productions she has piloted business and brand development programs for clients large (Aflac, AECOM) and small (GOOD Worldwide, Gogosha Optique).
Doug Wein
Doug Wein is an independent consultant and coach, working with sustainability-minded businesses and professionals to help them clarify and achieve their most critical goals. He has provided strategic sustainability consulting to Fortune 500 companies across a wide array of industries, including food & agriculture, retail, manufacturing, real estate, green building, and waste & recycling. His coaching work helps clients develop leadership skills, spread bold ideas, transform organizations, and ultimately create positive change. Doug has led strategy development trainings in small teams and in groups of over 650 professionals at such premier sustainability venues as the Greenbuild Conference.
Doug has led people and organizations for over fifteen years. He has an MBA from the Ross School of Business and an MS from the School of Natural Resources and Environment, having graduated from the Erb Institute for Global Sustainable Enterprise at the University of Michigan. His undergraduate degree in Psychology is from Pitzer College. When he’s not coaching, Doug is often attempting to invent new culinary sauces to delight his wife, building treehouses, or exploring the backyard with his two-year old.
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The Dawn of a “Green” Era: Institute Established to Revolutionize Safety of Consumer Products
Posted on 25. Jun, 2010 by OppGreen Insights.
(May 20 — Mountain View, Ca)
There are a moments in time that truly stand out as industry milestones.
Thursday, May 20, at Google’s headquarters in Mountain View, Ca, was one of those groundbreaking instances. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger along with leaders from various fields formed the nation’s first non-profit dedicated to developing complete standards and metrics for products we use every day.
The Green Products Innovation Initiative (GPII), whose headquarters will be located in California, will positively transform how companies manufacture products – from their design to their production to the makeup of their products. The GPII will also affect research, innovation, economic growth and job creation for businesses.
A lengthy list of politicians, celebrities, and progressive people with environmental ties are supporting the GPII. Some distinguished names include California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, Brad Pitt, Robert Kennedy, Jr., and Terry Tamminen.
The architect and designer, William McDonough, and his colleague, Dr. Michael Braungart, are key promoters of the GPII as well. McDonough and Braungart co-wrote the cutting edge book, Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things, which calls for “the transformation of human industry through ecologically intelligent design.” In fact, McDonough and Braungart’s manifesto, served as the one of the chief outlines for the making of this organization. Their nationally known design consulting firm, MBDC (McDonough Braungart Design Chemistry), certified the GPII by comparing it to “Cradle to Cradle” protocols. Also, while GPI will now be responsible for endorsing products that meet McDonough and Braungart’s standard, other companies have already incorporated this set of rules into the making of their products.
Companies from many different industries have already demonstrated the rewards of designing and manufacturing products according to the “Cradle to Cradle” framework. Herman Miller, Shaw Industries, Ford Motor Company, Aveda, and Method Laundry are only some corporations that have already utilized this structure. To date, more than 300 products and 90 companies have taken part in the Cradle to Cradle certification (CM).
Eco-warrior, and a friend of OG, Zem Joaquin, is a member of GPII.’s board. Moreover, founders of GPII include Yves Behar, Wendy Schmidt and Chad Hurley.
With the solid framework of the “Cradle to Cradle” protocol and the backing of renowned individuals from many different scopes, the GPII is providing a backbone to crack down on unsafe materials currently in consumer products. Manufacturers will instead be able to find healthier alternatives for customers.
Here are some “not to miss quotes” from GPII’s commencement:
“California has the most comprehensive Green Chemistry program in the world, and our leadership in ensuring the products we use every day are safe for our families and environment has resulted in the Green Products Innovation Institute choosing to headquarter here in California,” said Governor Schwarzenegger. “This Institute will revolutionize the way we design products and serve as a benchmark for those who aspire to set new standards of environmental and human health and safety for all products sold in California.”
“California is the perfect birthplace for this Institute, but ultimately its reach is global, and it has been our long-held wish to see the principles of Cradle to Cradle applied globally,” said William McDonough, co-founder of the Green Products Innovation Institute. “Even before Michael and I wrote Cradle to Cradle in 2002, we have wished and worked for a safer and healthier world for ALL children of ALL species. That world is not just a wish anymore—it is here now, thanks to Gov. Schwarzenegger, the donors and supporters of the Green Products Innovation Institute, and the people of California.”
For more information about the institute visit: www.gpinnovation.org.
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Interview with Opportunity Green 2009 Speaker, Freya Williams, co-founder of Ogilvy Earth
Posted on 20. Nov, 2009 by OppGreen Insights.
Freya Williams is the Planning Director of OgilvyEarth, Ogilvy’s Sustainability Consultancy. OgilvyEarth is also responsible for the strategy and executions of the Hopenhagen campaign, a pro-bono project designed to raise public awareness of the upcoming Cop15 Conference.
OG: So you started The Greenery (now called OgilvyEarth) while at Ogilvy. How did you get buy-in to do that?
Freya: While I was on maternity leave I spent some time thinking about what I really wanted to do. I saw a business opportunity to help our clients in a more focused way around sustainability. I also wanted to bring my personal values to work. Management was actually very supportive, and put me in touch with my partner, Seth Farbman. Then the new global CEO reached out to us, so we had a lot of support from the top. It was a grassroots initiative with a lot of top-down support.
OG: There seems to be almost a trend in advertising companies opening sustainability consulting practices, as Ogilvy has done through your influence, and Saatchi has done by acquiring Act Now (now Saatchi S). How deep into your clients’ operations and supply chain strategies do you go?
Freya: We begin by working to understand what the client has already done, what they need to do more of. What’s different with us from Saatchi S is that our expertise lies in communications, while Adam Werbach (CEO of Saatchi S) is a sustainability expert. So we’ve created a global advisory panel who advise us on sustainability issues. We work with the client to figure out what the client needs to do, but most of our clients have internal experts who know much more about supply chain or sustainability as it pertains to their company. We’re very clear with our clients that we won’t be helping them greenwash, we help them expose what they’re actually doing around sustainability.
Thus, we mainly focus on helping the client figure out how to communicate what they’re already doing, figure out what else they could be doing, and what their core message should be. Most companies are dong something around sustainability, and quite often many things, but they don’t know how to even begin communicating what they’re doing.
OG: That sounds exactly like what Kellie McElhaney taught us in her Strategic CSR class, and in her bookJust Good Business. She explained that the most successful CSR initiatives are ones which naturally fit with a company’s core business.
Freya: Exactly, in the framework we use with our clients, one of the more critical components is synergy. The company’s sustainability initiatives should be very consistent with what the brand already stands for.
OG: Ogilvy’s White Paper, 2009: A Pivotal Year and the Dawn of the Age of Sustainability, states: “…the deepening crisis is bringing thought-leaders and consumers alike to the realization that the financial model we’ve been working with is unsustainable.” Do your CPG clients see this as an opportunity to redefine success, or are they trying to apply sustainability to the old model of “growth=success”?
Freya: It varies- some clients are shifting to service based models, but most are trying to make what they’re currently doing much more sustainable. A really good example is our client Siemens, as they are finding huge opportunities for leadership in transition to a sustainable economy, particularly in serving their manufacturing customers.
OG: I discovered just how far ahead of the competition Siemens is when I consulted one of their competitors. The firm was trying to figure out how to communicate to their customers that their products are also environmentally responsible. I was very impressed with how well Siemens is communicating their leadership in sustainable manufacturing technology.
OG: Some might say that Advertising is one of the most powerful forces in the world today. Do you think that adequate change can be affected through communication, particularly to consumers? Or would changes in business operations be more likely to impact the future of the planet?
Freya: It has to be all of the above, we can’t just do one or the other. We’re too far into this and need to work on all fronts- government regulation, business leadership, as well as marketing to drive consumer demand. As culture makers, marketers have a real opportunity to drive forward change. Hopenhagen is trying to change the dialogue to make it more relevant to people, to make climate change about people, prosperity, and hope. The apocalyptic messages of the past have not been helpful, they disempower people, creating a sense of apathy. So we’re trying to make this more about hope and opportunity. We’re also trying to bring it home to people. This isn’t just about the polar bears, or some strangers in a strange land, we want everyone to feel connected to the Copenhagen Resolution.
OG: What sort of metrics do you use to measure impact of a campaign like Hopenhagen? The same as brand perception for other clients? How would Ogilvy measure success internally for this campaign?
Freya: That’s a difficult question because of course we only have a limited amount of control over the outcome of the talks. We’re measuring our success by measuring word of mouth buzz, online mentions, signatures on the Hopenhagenwebsite, press mentions, etc. If we feel it’s raised the dialogue, and made people feel a part of the event, then we’ve done well.
OG: Given that it sometimes seems the climate change deniers are louder than those who embrace innovation and change, do you feel you need to expand the Hopenhagen message beyond the internet, onto prime time TV, for example?
Freya: Because this is a pro bono project, we need to rely on free media. Our PR team is trying to get it into more mainstream publications. Some things are in the pipeline that I can’t talk about now, but will mention in my presentation at the conference.
We won’t go hard against climate change deniers, they represent about 1/3rd of the population that are too hard to convert. Instead we focus on activating the ones who are already receptive, and are willing to learn how they can help.
OG: Thanks so much for your time Freya! I am really looking forward to your presentation at the conference.
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Video: Molly Dix of RTI previews the Open Innovation panel at Opportunity Green 2009
Posted on 02. Nov, 2009 by OppGreen Insights.
Molly Dix, Technical Team Manager at RTI, gives a preview to the Open Innovation panel taking place this Sunday at Opportunity Green 2009.
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Interview with WearPACT–Change starts with your underwear
Posted on 27. Oct, 2009 by OppGreen Insights.
This morning I met with Jason and Jeff, co-founders of WearPACT, the sustainable underwear company. They met and started WearPACT while MBA students at UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business. Jason is showing off their awesome compostable shipping bag that I was so impressed with. Even the glue on it is compostable! Pure genius and proof that where there’s a will there’s a way.
They sent me off with a free pair of boy shorts, event though I wanted to buy them, which I’ve found to be a very comfy indeed. They’re a thinner, silkier cotton than the boy shorts I’ve bought elsewhere, and come with a cute print bag that’s handy for storing jewelry and such.
OG: Tell me about the name WearPACT.
Jason: Well, first we called it ActionPACT when we were just going to do men’s underwear. When we added women’s, we needed a name that would work for women too–we thought ActionPACT was too macho. We had Yves Behar do the branding–essentially you’re wearing a pact between yourself, your underwear and the cause you’re supporting with your purchase. 10% of sales of each pair go to a charity-Oceana, Forest Ethics, and 826 National.
OG: This is remarkable, as most companies who donate a portion of sales don’t give more than 1% of profits, so 10% of sales is massive.
Jason: To build something sustainable, it has to be beautiful and work on all other aspects too. Then we also worked within the constraint of it being environmentally and socially responsible.
OG: Like Method, with tho they led with gorgeous cleaning products that work great, and the eco benefits are core to the product, but not trumpeted to the consumers?
Jason: Method was a huge brand inspiration for us, we really like them.
OG: So why underwear?
Jason: Jeff was hunting for sustainable and quality underwear, and I just wanted to start a green business of any kind. We looked at the category and couldn’t find an existing eco market leader, and saw that luxury underwear is a growing segment, with room for growth. Men’s and women’s underwear sales grew in 2008, in general it is a healthy category.
OG: Like the underwear index indicated?
Jason: Exactly! Also we wanted to focus on what people actually need, and well, we all need underwear. Plus there’s clearly room for innovation in the category.
OG: How hard was it to find Planet Access Company? I’m impressed they even exist!
Jason: We were introduced to PAC by Horny Toad–Gordon helped start Planet Access. It may have been solely Horny Toad’s fulfillment center at first, have since become a valuable fulfillment for many small and conscious companies.
OG: What were the biggest obstacles you faced as a startup?
Jason: I’m pretty familiar with startups, I’ve worked on about 6 so far, so we have a company attitude that we will be derailed weekly, and just need to work through these challenges. Potentially company-destroying problems come up all the time, but we just have to plow through them.
For example, we were starting up last summer, and when the financial crisis hit in Fall 2008, some of our investors backed out. So we started on a much smaller budget than we’d originally planned. We knew our floor–essentially we had to be able to pay for the first run of production and get the website up and running. So, we made sure we at least had that much.
OG: Do you see WearPACT expanding the product line in the future? Do you see yourselves eventually becoming the eco Victoria’s Secret, but for men and women?
Jason: We’re not trying to be anyone but PACT–we’re brand new, so volume is tiny right now. First we’d like to dramatically increase sales. We don’t want to deal with fashion whims but do like to come up with one or two new pairs per quarter. We’re still learning about what our scale will be, and trying to expand beyond the eco-consumers without compromising our values. We and our customers to buy beautiful underwear that fits great, looks great, but also has this eco dimension. We want to design a product that people are excited about, that’s sexy and fun but not trashy.
OG: What are you looking forward to at Opportunity Green?
Jason: I’m really looking forward to meeting like-minded people in sustainable businesses that we might partner with someday.
OG: You’ll check out Yves’ panel, of course?
Jason: Of course!
OG: Anything else you want to tell readers?
Jason: Buy lots! We’re offering a 25% discount to Opportunity Green attendees. Just enter the discount code “OG25″ when you place your order.
