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As regular 3p readers may remember, I recently returned from an ecotourism adventure in Peru's Sacred Valley. For those unfamiliar with the area, the Sacred Valley is a region in Peru's Andean highlands that served as a key settlement for Incan and pre-Incan societies. The fertile farming region includes the famed city of Machu Picchu, smaller villages like Pisac, Chinchero and Ollantaytambo, and the ancient city of Cusco, which served as the capital of the Incan empire.

The region still serves as a vital agricultural hub, supplying a host of vegetables and grains to Cusco, which has experienced unprecedented growth in recent years. In the 1970s, the ancient city's population hovered around 60,000 people. Today, it's home to more than 500,000 -- thanks, in large part, to a boom in the tourism sector, said Ernesto Ore, a Cusco resident and lead guide for Sacred Valley tours with REI Adventures -- the adventure travel company that hosted me on my trip.

It's no wonder Peru attracts so much attention from tourists. Apart from the awe-inspiring Incan and pre-Incan ruins of the Sacred Valley, the South American country is home to unparalleled natural beauty and a vast diversity in climates and landscapes. Of the 104 types of weather and climate patterns found on Earth, 48 can be found in Peru, said Del Miro Portillo, also a Cusco resident, who serves as a lead guide for REI Adventures' lodge-to-lodge treks on Peru's Mount Salkantay.

It's basically impossible not to be humbled by the natural beauty of Peru (just look at that photo!). But, as tourism continues to rise in the region, this brings to mind a vital question: How can we ensure tourists tread lightly -- leaving no negative footprint on the region or, ideally, making a positive impact on the communities they visit?

REI Adventures is one tour company that does this right. With a hearty emphasis on outdoor experiences, REI Adventures brings travelers face-to-face with some of Peru's most stunning landscapes. Along the way, the company's Peru itineraries invite adventurers to visit local businesses and learn more about customs and culture directly from those who know it best: the locals.

This case study in ecotourism and positive travel is the perfect example of how travelers can visit some of the world's most beautiful places, while doing their part to keep them that way. Read on to learn more about how ecotourism can make a difference.

Learning from locals while boosting economies

REI Adventures' Peru itineraries are designed specifically to emphasize nature, while teaching travelers more about Peru's culture through visits to small villages and local businesses: As adventurers traverse rural hiking trails in cities like Cusco, Pisac, Urubamba, they're invited to shop local markets, learn about local weaving traditions or horse wrangling, and sample plenty of regional cuisine.

This is a win-win-win for travelers, locals and REI Adventures as a company: Travelers ditch cookie-cutter tourism in favor of an authentic experience; locals get to share their culture -- something Peruvians love to do -- while earning extra income; and REI Adventures has the opportunity to nurture the next generation of ecotourism guides and partners.  “We believe in supporting local communities, local economies,” Cynthia Dunbar, general manager of REI Adventures, told TriplePundit. “We want to see our colleagues in the outdoor industry really thrive as well and be great partners for REI.” And this isn't just lip service. Attention to local economies is clearly visible in all of the company's Peruvian adventure itineraries.

On the second day of our visit to the Sacred Valley, our tour group hiked through Pisac -- stopping to learn about the ancient ruins from our two local guides. At the end of the three-hour hike, we were invited to shop for local handmade wares at the famed Pisac market, where venders from the village sell everything from woven blankets to handmade wood carvings as a way to support their families.

The following day, we visited Chinchero -- where we hiked through terraced salt mines and learned more about local weaving: a tradition that has been passed down for generations and is a revered pastime of women in the Sacred Valley.

The women, known simply as "the Chinchero weavers," lined up to greet us and explained local traditions like creating natural dyes from indigenous plants, spinning llama and alpaca fibers into yarn, and weaving them to create colorful textiles. Most adventurers left with not only an appreciation for this ancient tradition, but also plenty of handmade items like sweaters, blankets and bags -- providing income that's essential for these women to continue their work.

Another example of leveraging tourism dollars to create positive impact on local economies is the work of Mountain Lodges of Peru, which partners with REI Adventures for the company's lodge-to-lodge treks through the Peruvian Andes. Mountain Lodges created a nonprofit arm, Yanapana Peru, at its inception, in order to make sure the influx of tourism left a positive mark on mountain villages.

Before setting out on their treks, lodge-to-lodge adventurers first visit the Mollepata district of Cusco -- where Yanapana has worked for years to empower local women through traditional artistry. Unlike in Chinchero, women in Mollepata mostly practice weaving as a hobby, not an income-generator, and spend most of their time in the home. After working with locals for nearly a decade, Yanapana created and nurtured communities of women working in local traditions like textile-weaving and jam-making. The groups now reach 60 local women, who are given the opportunity to do something they love outside of the home, while creating a better future for their families.

As Gilda, a member of the Mollepata textile community, put it: "Thanks to this project, we can earn income for our families, and our children can also be helped -- not just stay here, but move on to Cusco and bigger places. We have to give thanks to Mountain Lodges, because our life is not the same as before. It is different."

Marco Antonio Chacon Delgado, mayor of the Mollepata district, also praised the project as a vehicle for sustainable tourism that "builds the village up, rather than destroying it."

Leveraging tourism for good

Getting business from a respected tour company like REI Adventures, which hosts dozens of trips to the Sacred Valley each year, is bound to be a boon for local economies. But the company takes things further.

It partners exclusively with in-country operators and local guides, patronizes locally-owned hotels and restaurants, and works with nonprofit groups to truly make a difference on the ground. Its latest project is a greenhouse in Mollepata, in partnership with Yanapana, through which it hopes to inspire reforestation using indigenous trees (more on this later in the series).

Of course, you don't have to travel with REI Adventures to make sure your trips have a positive impact. But if you're looking for an authentic travel experience that bolsters local communities, take the extra time to search out responsible travel companies that care about the communities in which they operate. Trust me, you'll be glad you did.

Image credits: Mary Mazzoni

Ed Note: Accommodations, travel and guidance in Peru were courtesy of REI Adventures. Neither the author nor TriplePundit was required to write about the experience. Opinions are our own.

By Susan Clayton

We typically think of climate change as an environmental problem. But it can be just as accurately, and usefully, considered to be a social problem.  Not only are the consequences important to society, but the causes, also, are embedded in human behavior, economic systems and social infrastructure. Perhaps more importantly, the reasons we haven’t done more to address climate change are entirely due to human factors: perceptual biases, emotional resistance and political barriers.

This is why I’m optimistic about the agreement that was reached in Paris.  True, it’s not enough. The commitment for rich nations to provide financial aid to help developing nations is vague, and the enforcement mechanism is weak.

And yet, with the Paris agreement, the participating countries agreed to participate in this struggle to address climate change. Yes, some people are not on board, but most countries were represented, especially the ones that matter most by virtue of political influence, financial leverage and carbon emissions. That demonstrates two important human accomplishments:  consensus that there is a problem and cooperation to accomplish a shared goal.

Consensus

Consensus is important. A widely recognized phenomenon in social psychology, “pluralistic ignorance,” refers to a situation in which everyone thinks that everyone else knows what is happening, but no one really does. When we confront a situation that seems like a crisis, we look to other people for guidance about what is going on and how we should respond. But because we’re all looking at each other, none of us is taking action.

In a series of experiments, researchers have shown that the presence of others can prevent people from helping when faced with an emergency. This is in part because everyone thinks that someone else will act if action is actually required, and if no one takes action then it must mean that no action is needed.

With regard to climate change, we all hear the message that it is an emergency, but we look around and see very few people doing anything. Most are going about their lives as if there were no problem. We look to see what governments are doing, and although some policies have been enacted, they are mostly contested by political opponents. Particularly in the U.S., people think there’s much more disagreement among scientists than there is, and their social groups may deny the existence of climate change.  The average person can hardly be blamed for concluding that there’s no real problem.

After Paris, this is much more difficult. Over 180 countries came together to address the problem.  Individual ignorance is still possible, but pluralistic ignorance is – how should we say? – passé.

Cooperation

Cooperation is also crucial. People ignore climate change in part because they feel helpless. If you feel that nothing you do will make any difference, why waste the effort? This is particularly true when we think that others will continue to exploit environmental resources, so that our own sacrifices will only serve to enable their unsustainable lifestyles. A major sticking point for climate agreements in the past has been the question of which countries would participate: Would it be only the rich countries? The countries contributing the most to the problem?  Many were unwilling to act when others were exempted.

The agreement in Paris, significantly, asked for the efforts of every country. Not only that, but it makes those efforts transparent.  The reporting process contained in the agreement requires regular updates and outside review of what each country has accomplished. When we think that everyone else has agreed to protect a common resource, and we trust them to follow through on that agreement, our individual actions seem more meaningful. We have more confidence that those actions will form part of a greater collective effort – one that might be large enough to be effective.

From the physical science perspective, the agreement reached in Paris leaves much to be desired. But from a social science perspective, it was momentous.

To me, as a conservation psychologist, it underscored the critical role for psychological science in addressing the issue of climate change as well as many of society’s other pressing challenges, from health and wellness to environmental conservation. Carbon emissions may not yet have changed course, but perceptions of the problem are heading in a more sustainable direction.

Image credit: COP21 Paris

Susan Clayton is president of the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues and a professor of psychology at the College of Wooster. She is also a featured psychologist in the American Psychological Association’s, “Psychology: Science in Action” campaign, aimed at showcasing the variety of settings in which psychologists work.

It’s the holiday season, so you can’t miss the brown trucks driving around delivering packages to people who have ordered gifts online. Next time you see a UPS truck, know that the company is working on expanding its use of renewable natural gas (RNG) in its fleet. The company’s goal is to drive 1 billion miles with its alternative fuels fleet by the end of 2017.

UPS has logged a total of 505 million miles with alternative fuel fleets so far, putting it halfway to its goal. While it took 13 years for UPS to travel the first 350 million miles with alternative fuels, by the end of 2017, it expects to drive over 350 million miles a year in these vehicles. It attributes the accelerated pace to ongoing investments in a fleet of alternative-fuel vehicles.

To help achieve its goal, UPS recently announced it will supply its Memphis, Tennessee, and Jackson, Mississippi, fleets with an estimated 15 million diesel-gallon equivalents of renewable natural gas from landfills. The move to use RNG in the two cities is part of the company’s multi-year agreement with Memphis Light, Gas and Water and Atmos Energy Marketing, LLC. RNG will fuel over 140 heavy-duty trucks in Memphis and Jackson.

UPS’s RNG fleet includes over 3,800 medium- and heavy-duty vehicles globally. Since 2000, the company’s alternative fuel and advanced technology vehicles logged over 500 million miles in the U.S., Germany, Canada, Netherlands, Chile, Thailand, Hong Kong, South Korea, Brazil and the U.K. UPS also uses other alternative fuels, including propane, ethanol, renewable diesel and electricity. In 2014, the company had over 5,000 alternative fuel and advanced technology vehicles in use, and those vehicles logged 154 million miles that year. Through the use of alternative-fuel vehicles, 5.4 percent of the total gas and diesel purchased was displaced.

The Rolling Laboratory is used to  test alternative fuels and advanced vehicle technologies. It  provides UPS with the “opportunity to determine how alternative fuels and technologies perform in diverse, real-world operating conditions,” as the company’s 2014 sustainability report states. The Rolling Laboratory is the “key to our success and is enabled by our scope and scale,” the report explains.

The insights UPS gets from the Rolling Laboratory are used to plan investments and develop future strategies. Those insights are shared with both energy suppliers and vehicle manufacturers in order to “enhance their understanding” of how the company’s products can help make the transportation sector more sustainable.

Using alternative fuels to meet short and long term goals

UPS has a short-term goal of reducing its GHG emissions by 20 percent by 2020. Increasing its conversion rate of diesel to natural gas use will help the company meet that goal. In 2014, UPS accelerated its use of natural gas when the new tractors it bought for its domestic, small package delivery business used natural gas. Buying the tractors almost doubled the number of its natural gas vehicles in the U.S. By the end of 2014, UPS had just over 1,000 compressed natural gas (CNG) medium package cars and 1,297 heavy tractors using CNG or liquefied natural gas (LNG). UPS also invested in 23 LNG and CNG fueling operations in 10 states.

Although natural gas helps meet UPS’s short-term goal, it can’t meet all of its transportation fuel needs globally. So, the company has a diversified approach to expanding its alternative fuels and fleet. That includes the use of RNG.

Burning RNG produces 88 percent less lifecycle greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions than conventional fuels. Certain types of RNG can end in net negative GHG emissions. UPS has a lofty goal of achieving an 80 percent reduction in its GHG emissions by 2050, and increasing the use of RNG will surely help.

Image credit: UPS

By Daniel Lurie

In a time that is dark and scary for so many, when headlines tell of terror, racial tension and gun violence, we saw a sign of hope in Priscilla Chan and Mark Zuckerberg’s promise to contribute 99 percent of their Facebook shares to better our community and our world.

The backlash against the announcement has been interesting to watch. Maybe people feel compelled to pick this apart because it’s somewhat concrete when little else around us feels within our control.

Regardless of one’s feelings about how the announcement was made and what it consists of, we would do well to remember that this is an announcement, not a comprehensive strategy. And, there are a few elements that show Chan and Zuckerberg are headed in the right direction:

1. The announcement addresses the urgency of the issues we face

Income inequality, basic healthcare, hunger, education – these are big issues – issues we can’t, as a community, wait to solve.

What should be universally applauded is this couple’s willingness to give so significantly at such a young age, not waiting until retirement or beyond. This is the type of leadership our community needs to change the odds for people living in poverty. Their generosity makes a clear statement that we have to invest boldly today if we want to see real change for the future.

2. It takes a patient approach

Thanks in large part to innovation in the tech sector, we live in a world where we can get nearly everything we want right now. Our daily interactions occur at lightning speed. From Uber to Instacart, today’s expectation is instantaneous results.

The world of philanthropy is no different. Donors expect results, and many aren’t willing to invest without a very clear and often short timeline for success. It’s refreshing to see Chan and Zuckerberg take a different approach – making a long-term investment, the outcomes of which may not be seen in months, years or even their lifetimes. Big change takes time.

3. It leaves room for policy

Perhaps the most debated piece of their announcement was the strategic move to establish a limited liability company (LLC). Many have questioned their intentions, but an LLC has power that a traditional 501(c)(3) nonprofit does not. It leaves room to invest in policy, one of the strongest ways to affect problems of this scale. We can’t solve massive structural issues with private dollars alone – we have to work alongside the government.

4. It builds on existing expertise

Chan and Zuckerberg seem aware that they don’t have all the answers, which is why putting investments in the hands of experts can be liberating and impactful. Innovation is the birthright of every company in Silicon Valley, but nonprofits are rarely given the opportunity (or the money) to dream big, to try and fail.

At the same time, I hope Chan and Zuckerberg will invest significantly in the age-old solutions employed by so many nonprofits that provide a critical safety net for those in need.

The bottom line

When many feel hopeless and frustrated about the state of poverty in this country, I’m inspired by the enormity of this gift. I admire the promise to change the world for those who, through no fault of their own, are born into poverty and dire circumstances.

With the right strategy, I believe Zuckerberg and Chan’s commitment can help us create that change. I hope others follow suit. It’s not only an opportunity to better our community; it’s an opportunity to change the rhetoric around the tech sector and instill pride in working for the industry.

Read more in The Guardian about Priscilla and Mark’s announcement from another social sector leader, Steve Hilton, CEO and co-founder of Crowdpac and author of "More Human," to be published in the U.S. in 2016.

Image credit: Daniel Lurie

Daniel Lurie is CEO and Founder of Tipping Point Community, a non-profit working to find, fund and partner with the most promising groups in the Bay Area working to change the odds for people living in poverty.

Globally, more than one million children are working in the gold mining industry, according to new estimates.

The gold mined is used by electronics manufacturers who use it to make mobile phones, computers and other consumer electronics. The electronics industry annually uses 279000 kg of gold worth more than 10 billion euros. This makes the sector the third largest consumer of gold in the world, aftr the newellery industry and the financial sector.

According to the report, from the SOMO report, ‘Gold from children’s hands’, commissioned by the Stop Child Labour coalition, the problem is getting worse. In the African country of Mali for example, the number of children working in the gold mining industry has increased almost tenfold in recent years from 20,000 to 200,000 children.

The coaltion accepts that electronics manufacturers do not accept child labour but argue they do little to take effective measures to eliminate it from their supply chains.

“It is time for these companies to deal with child labour in their entire supply chain and to look beyond conflict minerals,” said Sofie Ovaa, programme manager of Stop Child Labour. 

She urges consumers to get involved this holiday season by signing its online petition.

 

 

San Diego claims to be America's Finest City. And now it could become America's greenest city too -- a fine distinction.

San Diego wants to be clean -- 100 percent clean energy, to be exact -- in just 20 years, under an ambitious plan unanimously passed last week by the city council. This is big news. San Diego is America's eighth largest city, with a population of more than 1.5 million. It also has a Republican mayor, who, unlike his compatriots railing against climate action at presidential debates across the country, is making a bold plan that puts his city at the forefront of America's clean energy future.

The plan -- which got unanimous, bi-partisan support from the city council -- could become a model for other cities around the country to also move to 100 percent renewables.

Already, we've see that cities around the world are far ahead of national governments in taking actions toward sustainability. Whether it is banning plastic bags, setting up municipal composting systems, or shifting away from dirty coals, it is cities that paved the path for countries to make a climate accord in Paris just last week.

San Diego's plan is ambitious but realistic. It relies on expanding the city's vehicle fleet to 90 percent electric cars by 2035, expanding bicycles and public transit, creating more walkable neighborhoods, and better managing waste.

It helps that the city is already making strong, green moves. San Diego was ahead of the curve when it came to dealing with the state's drought, and has, thus, not had to see the same level of drastic cuts. Its local energy company is already at 33 percent renewables, ahead of the state's deadline and most of its peers in the supposedly more-progressive Bay Area and Los Angeles regions.

This will also be good for San Diego's economy. Mayor Kevin Faulconer sold this plan to businesses by hailing the financial benefits of going green. And if San Diego does become a green energy hub, expect its economy to expand as well, as study after study has shown that clean energy produces more well-paying jobs.

What would make this even better is if other cities decide not to let San Diego take the green mantle, but come up with their own, ambitious plans. In fact, that is exactly what many hope.

Evan Gillespie of the Sierra Club told the New York Times that San Diego has laid down a challenge to other cities. “We need others to see this and say, ‘Game on,’” he added. “We need places like Los Angeles, like San Francisco and New York, to step up.”

Exactly. We need more San Diegos. That's because, earlier this month, countries around the world agreed on an ambitious plan that would require us to completely stop using fossil fuels by 2050. San Diego's plan would put it nearly 15 years ahead of schedule – exactly the kind of strong ambition we need to avoid the 1.5-degree warming that scientists say should be the cap globally.

Image credit: Joe Wolf via Flickr

New Belgium Brewing might be in play.

On Friday, a report citing unnamed sources said that craft brewer New Belgium, best known for its Fat Tire Ale, was working with the advisory firm Lazard Middle Market on a possible sale.

It's a significant moment for the Certified B Corp movement, since New Belgium is one of the largest B Corps on a rapidly growing list of almost 1,500 firms. Reuters reported that New Belgium, which is owned by its employees, is looking for a buyer that would pay more than $1 billion for the company.

The report comes during a wave of acquisitions in the craft beer industry. Several small brewers that are well known for socially responsible practices were sold in 2015 — but so far, the new owners aren't backing off from policies the original owners made.

In March, Full Sail Brewing, which was also owned by its employees, sold to a private equity firm. Many employees received five- or six-figure buyout checks, and they also got to keep their jobs. In 2014, TriplePundit named Full Sail one of the 10 most sustainable U.S. breweries. Nine months after the sale, Full Sail's website still prominently features a video that describes its efforts at water conservation.

In October, Lagunitas Brewing Co. announced that it sold a 50 percent stake to Heineken, one of the largest brewers in the world. Lagunitas has generous donation, sponsorship and environmental programs that are integral to the brand. But its new owner, which is based in the Netherlands, also places a high value on sustainability. Heineken is making aggressive efforts to limit water use and also supports human rights in the countries in which it does business.

Neither Full Sail nor Lagunitas was a B Corp, however. And New Belgium has been an enthusiastic supporter of B Lab, the nonprofit group that performs voluntary audits of environmental, personnel and community practices to certify that subscribing businesses are "a force for good in the world."

In response to the Reuters report, New Belgium co-founder and board chairwoman Kim Jordan said: "New Belgium Brewing’s board of directors has an obligation to have ongoing dialogue with the capital markets with the goal of making sure that we remain strong as leaders in the craft brewing industry. There is no deal pending at this time."

A year ago, when New Belgium became 100 percent employee-owned, Jordan said the move was intended to protect the company's progressive culture.  "There are few times in life where you get to make choices that will have multi-generational impact – this is one of those times,” she said. "We have always had a high involvement ownership culture and this allows us to take that to the next logical level. It will provide an elegant succession framework that keeps the executive team intact ensuring our vision stays true going forward.” (See this report in the Denver Post). 

The prospect of a sale raises difficult issues for Jordan, other board members and New Belgium's 600-plus employee shareholders. The company's identity is tied to employee ownership and progressive stances on climate change, the living wage movement, bicycle advocacy and other issues. Its B Corp certification, which it gained in 2013, burnishes that reputation.

To an old-fashioned investor, B Corp certification might look like an unnecessary drag on the bottom line. An unethical buyer might make promises to get New Belgium's employee shareholders to approve a sale, without intending to keep them.

The Full Sail and Lagunitas stories, although unfinished, fuel hope that a new kind of investor might recognize that walking the talk on sustainability is what makes the brand worth buying in the first place.

Image credit: Flickr/Daniel Spiess

As the end of the year quickly approaches, I started pondering what I’ve learned this year about the sharing economy. I decided to ignore for a minute what I’ve read this year and focus on a resource I’m always keen to learn from – my students.

Last October, 31 of my undergraduate and graduate students at Parsons School of Design took part in a ‘Buy Nothing New, Share Everything Month’ project, aiming to explore the behaviors and values of millennials in the context of consumerism and the sharing economy as an economic alternative model. In the project, students were asked to buy nothing new (other than food and absolute necessities) for one month and to look at the sharing economy for solutions and inspiration to meet their needs.

This hands-on project was a great learning experience for the students and for me, too. What did I learn exactly? Here are five of the more interesting lessons I’ve learned from my students:

1. The sharing economy is strongly perceived as eco-friendly

It was interesting to see how strongly students believe that the sharing economy is environmentally sustainable. Both before and after the project, more than 90 percent of the participating students agreed with the statement ‘the sharing economy is better for the environment,’ although the numbers were a bit higher at the beginning of the project. In the general public, the numbers are also high, but not that high: According to a PwC survey, 76 percent of U.S. adults believe the sharing economy is better for the environment.

The reality, however, is that the jury is still out, not to mention that it might be difficult to come up with a decisive answer as the sharing economy is a relatively broad space. As Juliet Schor notes: “Despite the widespread belief that the sector helps to reduce carbon emissions, there are almost no comprehensive studies of its impact. At this point, they are long overdue.”

Whether this perception is accurate or not, it does play a part in making the sharing economy more attractive to millennials – more than 70 percent of the students mentioned ‘reducing my consumption/carbon footprint’ as an aspect of the sharing economy that is of interest for them.

2. Millennials have a complex relationship with shopping and sustainability

I have to admit that I’m still not sure how a love for shopping and caring about sustainability could co-exist in a person’s mind, but apparently this is the state of mind of many millennials.

At the beginning of the project, 84 percent of the students agreed with the statement ‘shopping for new things makes me happy.’ At the end of it, 74 percent agreed with the statement – still a relatively high number. At the same time, about 65 percent of the students agreed at the beginning and the end of the project with the statement ‘I could happily live without most of the items I own’ -- interestingly, there was no change here.

While it’s not the first time I've seen these seemingly contradictory findings, my conclusion is somewhat different this time. In the past, I assumed this is a fight sustainability can’t win as this is a struggle between the right thing to do (sustainability) and the thing you love to do (shopping). Now, however, I think there might be a way for sustainability to have the upper hand through peer-to-peer platforms, both formal (ThredUp, Yerdle, AptDeco) and informal (clothing swap parties), as well as company-to-peer platforms (Rent the Runway). These are (or could be) far more sustainable, but could still tap into the brain’s reward center at the same time.

If these platforms will figure out how to activate “key areas of the brain, boosting our mood and making us feel better," or in other words learn how to create a dopamine rush in our brains, they could become sustainability’s most effective Jiu-Jitsu maneuver in its fight against reckless consumption.

3. Sharing works inside buildings, not in the streets of New York

While we tend to focus on formal sharing economy platforms and the value they create for people, it is important to remember that informal platforms also deliver substantial value. One project in particular was illuminating. Graduate students were asked to create a neighborhood exchange box to explore reciprocity between neighbors, asking: How do we bring our streets to life and create interactions and exchanges between perfect strangers?

This project began in Europe. My students found that in New York the answer might differ between the streets and inside buildings. While all the boxes that were placed in the streets didn’t survive more than a couple of hours before they mysteriously disappeared, the ones placed inside residential buildings not only survived, but also created interesting interactions between neighbors and, in some cases, continue to operate to this day. Feedback from other assignments also got me to realize that small and close environments like a residential building, workplace or university campus are far more promising for informal interventions that help people who live or work together to interact and share. The streets, on the other hand, at least in large cities like New York, are still too suspicious about such informal types of the sharing economy.

4. Trust is still an issue, even for millennials

This quote of one of the students says it all:

“The most difficult challenge I had to face was trusting the sharing economy platforms. Living in NYC and growing up, you’re always taught not to trust strangers. While living in a place like NYC, trusting a stranger isn’t the easiest thing. In fact it’s probably the last thing people would want to do. But this challenge has made me more willing to trust than I did before. I’m not completely there as I thought I was. But I know I’m not complete shut off to this side of the economy like I was before.”

5. It’s time for the sharing economy to shift from its American mindset

While the sharing economy is becoming global, it is still very much influenced and culturally led by an American mindset. This way of thinking has its pros, but also many cons as it usually ignores the points of view of many millennials living in developing countries with diverse cultural background and economic circumstances.

As one student mentioned during the project:

“I was born and brought up in India, and over there we have very strong and closely-knit families. When we are kids, we generally have a common room and we end up sharing most of our things, clothes and even space. It was interesting to start that lifestyle all over again in New York.”

This mention reminded me of the need for the sharing economy to be more diverse and truly reflect the heterogeneity of millennials across the globe. Otherwise we’ll end up again with exporting American way of thinking to the rest of the world, only to wonder eventually once again why it doesn’t work out that well.

Image credit: Flickr/Charlie

By Monica Marshall

Hot off the heels of the U.N Sustainable Development Goals launch this fall and COP21 in Paris, there is a lot of momentum around identifying solutions to protect the future of our world and the generations of people who will live in it. We are seeing more and more companies raising their hands wanting to understand how they can contribute in ways that work for their stakeholders and are genuine to their brand. But, as Bill Gates recently said while at COP21, “We need to move faster.”

Moving fast is something the private sector can do. Members of the private sector are the only ones who can develop the new technologies needed to eliminate fossil fuel emissions. They're the only ones who can produce enough of the right food that is needed to feed the growing world population. And they're the only ones who have the R&D capabilities to develop therapies to eradicate disease.

For me, this is an extremely exciting time. After several years in the private sector, in 2004 I joined the United Nations World Food Program to help the largest food security agency more effectively engage with the large companies and corporations. When I first started, there were so many hurdles that made my job – matching private-sector interests with development programs with whom they could engage – exceedingly difficult. Many of these challenges came from inside the international NGO community where there was a fear of getting too close to companies because they had a supposed agenda.

Slowly things changed, and companies like Unilever, Yum! Brands and PepsiCo built holistic programs to address water, sanitation, hunger and other issues. From my vantage point at the U.N., the partnerships and programs we built were aimed at making a real impact – feed more children, get more communities access to clean water, anticipate weather patterns to preposition supplies for drought conditions, work with farmers to increase quality and yield of staple foods, provide logistical support to move emergency equipment, and so much more. These companies listened and learned about the needs on the ground, aligned their resources and built programs that we collectively thought could work. They were able to successfully achieve this because these programs and the benefit they provided to the world were their north star. And they received great praise for what they were doing along the way, too!

Not every initiative or innovation in the environment or social space worked as planned, but these companies were bold enough to embrace the fact that the lessons we learned along the way were as valuable as the end result. While these are excellent examples of companies that, in my opinion, got it right, the fact is we need more companies to be bold -- and we need it ‘faster.'

I am now back in the private sector, leading Ketchum’s sustainability and social impact work, counseling companies around public-private partnerships and communications. I am seeing some different obstacles with private-sector engagement – and it has nothing to do with a lack of interest and desire, lack of opportunity, or even a lack of resources on the part of companies.

The challenge I am seeing is the private sectors’ inability to define its purpose. Why are they in the business they are in, apart from making/selling products and services? I see this leading to their inability to align their products with social or environmental initiatives in a way that maximizes their impact. I see their inability to tell the story of their work and impact in a way that communicates to their stakeholders – investors, policymakers, nonprofit partners, consumers and employees – the value of the company’s investment of time and money.

Environmental sustainability is now a ‘must have’ rather than a ‘nice to have.' For example, companies are expected to reduce their carbon footprint, and there is little gain in them trying to pat themselves on the back. Reducing emissions, being efficient with water use, recycling and conserving valuable resources – these things are becoming the new normal. The private sector has to step ahead of what’s considered normal and apply its knowledge and resources to test new technologies, innovate to the point of discomfort, be bold in setting a vision for what it wants to accomplish, and don’t be afraid of learning by failure along the way.

Looking back on my many interactions when I was at the U.N. and now that I am in the private sector, I have learned some lessons about how to make sustainability and social programs work for everyone involved:

• Stick to your DNA: Develop social or sustainability programs that really leverage your resources and are meaningful to your business


• Start inside: If your employees are not on board, your program will go nowhere. Help them understand what you are doing, why and their role. Employees are consumers and your ambassadors. Help them help you!


• Take the long view: If your company genuinely wants to be defined by something more than the products or services it offers, expect to not see traction for at least 18 months.


• Focus on impact: Lead with results not with communications. Build programs that are meaningful and can drive change. If you get that part right, communicating your vision, role and impact is easy.


• Be bold: Don’t be afraid to put a stake in the ground with your vision and or expectations. If you are transparent about your approach and the lessons learned along the way, you won’t be penalized if you miss your target.

It’s the public sector’s role to identify the environmental and social problems that threaten the world we live in. But it’s the private sector – in partnership with the public sector – that is the engine that can expedite the vital changes that need to be made to create a world for future generations.

Image credit: COP21 Paris 

After nearly a decade at the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP), Monica Marshall has rejoined Ketchum as SVP Director Sustainability and Social Impact – leading all of Ketchum’s work in this space. Monica has extensive experience counseling corporate leadership in the areas of reputation and brand management, and corporate social responsibility.

By Virgilia Kaur Pruthi and Kristine Gloria

A number of major tech companies have released information on the racial and gender makeup of their employees, especially during the past year. This stirred a debate surrounding the tactics tech companies should employ in order to increase diversity (and not just the big four: Google, Amazon, Facebook and Apple).

The Verge cited some key takeaways on the state of diversity in tech:

• Amazon sets the bar for female employment with 37 percent of its U.S. workforce. Microsoft lags the pack with just 24 percent (sampled average is 29 percent female) — far below the 47 percent of the U.S. workforce that’s female.


• Apple employs a higher percentage of people claiming Hispanic/Latino origin than its peers in the U.S. At 12 percent of its U.S. workforce, Apple is well ahead of Twitter’s 2 percent (sampled average is 8 percent Hispanic or Latino).


• Amazon employs far more people who identify as black or African American than the other companies sampled. At 15 percent, it is well ahead of Facebook’s 1 percent and the 2 percent employed by Google and Twitter (sampled average is 7 percent).


• Amazon (13 percent) and Apple (16 percent) lag behind the others in the percentage of employees who identify as Asian (sampled average is 23 percent).


• The sampled average for people who identify as Asian is 23 percent of the workforce, even though they compromise just 4.7 percent of the U.S. population.

Instead of regurgitating the typical spiel of ‘leaning in,’ we propose that instilling both a proactive and reflexive approach will help make diversity programs sustainable.

Proactive refers to identifying and increasing involvement with employees, organizations and events, while changing the company culture to enable true diversity. Reflexive means taking a look at the proactive tactics and reflecting on the progress, measuring accountability, and ensuring that there are checks and balances.

Be proactive

• Recruit with community groups that align with diversity initiatives
  
  
  • Why recreate the wheel when you can build on what others have already figured out? Examples include Girls Who Code and Technovation.


• Engage local school groups
  
  
  • Look to high schools and colleges in diverse areas that would also benefit from their students engaging with those who can potentially mentor them. It’s a win-win scenario.


• Internal digital literacy events
  
  
  • Look to an internal education team that can discuss issues/concerns related to the company, its practices, industry issues etc.
  
  
  • Train your leadership to use vocabulary that doesn’t distance any of your employees.


• Executive town hall meetings
  
  
  • Ensure open communication between the executive floor and the rest of the company through quarterly town hall-like meetings that provide updates and future roadmaps.  


• Enable the influencer mentality
  
  
  • Have your employees be your spokespeople.

Be reflexive

• Measure accountability
  
  
  • Some argue that it’s tough to measure diversity since it is incredibly vague. However, measurement practices need not be wedded to only statistics. Companies can also employ alternative of measurements like work satisfaction or employment involvement with the team/community.


• Reflect on the progress as a company
  
  
  • Is there a need for an internal audit?
  
  
  • What does the C-suite look like? Would you consider it to be “diverse”?
  
  
  • Who is the devil’s advocate? You always need to have someone pose the opposing view.

What best practices has your organization employed to narrow the diversity gap? How do you define diversity?

Image credit: Flickr/Marcin Wichary

Virgilia Kaur Pruthi is an entrepreneur, community builder and writer. She is the Founder of the practice management tool Practice Well, organization dedicated to enabling personal development for millennial women called Network of Women, and author of the top selling book “An Immigrant’s Guide To Making It In America.” Virgilia has over 8 years of experience building and scaling technology products across the e-commerce, SaaS, health and government sectors.

Kristine Gloria is a Ph.D. student at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York, pursing her degree in Cognitive Science. She has also joined the Cybersecurity Policy Initiative at CSAIL at MIT. Her research falls in the intersection of technology, policy and culture. She is most interested in understanding the interplay among all three within the context of privacy. Key research areas: web science, privacy, OpenGovt. intellectual property, knowledge integration, ontologies, data and information visualization, and knowledge provenance.