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A demographic tumult is pushing America toward a sustainable economy. This demographic tumult is the nexus of an aging boomer generation, the emergence of the millennial generation as America’s economic powerhouse and the growing role of women. Each of these demographic groups has their own sustainability definition and focus. But with $10 trillion of combined annual buying power, these three demographic groups are collectively reshaping the American economy around sustainable best practices.

Demographic tumult

Who we are as a nation is undergoing tumultuous change. The boomer generation is downsizing past its previous role as the core of America’s economy. For example, because this generation overwhelmingly failed to save during their peak earning years, they must remain employed in often lower level job categories to maintain income levels beyond their limited social security payments. To make the most of their diminished earning potential, they are downsizing their homes, cars and expenditures.

The millennial generation is on the cusp of picking up the role once assumed by the boomer generation as one of the dominant economic forces in the world. In 2017, they will replace the boomer generation in terms of U.S. annual buying power. But unlike the boomer generation this generation is delaying the start of their families. In 1970 approximately 40 percent of American families were married couples with school-age children. Today that number is under 20 percent.

Women continue to grow in economic power. They influence 80 percent of household budgets. They have an estimated $8 trillion of annual buying power. Women are the majority in attendance and graduation from college. But women continue to confront economic and societal pressures. Approximately 40 percent of child births are to unmarried women. More than a quarter of working women who are unmarried with children have incomes below the poverty level. Women still make less money than men for comparable jobs. They continue to be underrepresented in upper management and in the boardroom.

How demographic tumult is creating a sustainable economy

America’s demographic tumult is driving our economy toward sustainability. For the downsizing boomer generation, the word “reduce” will drive their economic decisions for the rest of their lives. Their downsizing will reduce their outsized energy and emissions footprints. They will increasingly be focused on downsizing their consumption of industrial foods to extend their lives and reduce their medical cost exposure. “Supersize me” will lose its meaning as a marketing best practice for the boomer generation and our economy.

Reversing the actions of their boomer parents, the millennial generation has adopted America's cities as their own. They seek to live in urban environments that offer diverse experiences plus high walkability and biking scores. Their college debts and the reality that they started their careers during the Great Recession has pushed them into renting or buying smaller housing units. This is a sharp change from the large environmental footprints of the boomer generation’s suburban homes. By aligning value with values, this generation has rebranded buying used goods as “repurposing” and cool. They are more likely to buy the next generation of smartphone or tablet than a car. And if they buy a car, fuel efficiency will be a major attribute in the vehicle they purchase. For the millennial generation sustainability is their future.

Women, especially moms, are driving our economy toward sustainable wellness solutions. They demand that these solutions fit into their constrained budgets. Their quest is to find goods and services that “cost less, mean more.” From food to cosmetics to fashion, women are using their online social networks to identify products that are affordable, promote the wellness of their loved ones and align with their values.

Business winners and losers

The demographic tumult that is pushing our economy toward sustainable solutions is already determining business winners and losers. The Coca Cola Co. confronts declining U.S. soda sales as moms and the millennial generation question the health impacts of drinking soda. Reduced soda sales can mean reduced stress on water systems facing increased drought due to climate change since it takes four units of water to produce one unit of soda. It can also mean a reduced waste stream of plastic bottles. The Coca-Cola Co. is responding in two ways. First they are investing hundreds of millions of dollars in renewed advertising to restore soda sales. More likely to succeed with moms and the millennial generation is their acquisition of potentially healthier beverage alternatives like Odwalla juices and Dasani water.

McDonald’s formula of cheap fast food now confronts stagnant store sales from the growing health awareness of boomers, millennials and women. The boomer generation upon which McDonalds designed their business model and that made the Big Mac a national food staple is now attempting to reduce their weight and consumption of salts, sugars and fats. The millennial generation’s commitment to eating healthy convenience foods rather than fast food is so strong that McDonald's is not even in this generation's list of top 10 restaurants. The concerns of moms over how McDonald’s food can impact the wellness of their loved ones are pushing them to search for alternatives to Happy Meals. In response McDonald's has launched a major initiative around five sustainability goals for making their food healthier.

Businesses that can align with America’s demographic tumult are winning customers and sales. Chipotle is the most valued restaurant stock in America because it has won the millennial generation customer by offering tasty, sustainably-sourced food at competitive prices. The sale of rooftop solar in states that allow net metering is setting revenue growth records by selling to boomer generation homeowners looking to reduce their electric bills and lock-in attractive electricity prices for 20-plus years. Unilever, recognized as the world’s most sustainable brand, is growing sales of Dove soap (defined by Unilever as a 'beauty bar') through innovative YouTube videos like “ Real Beauty Sketches” that emotionally align with women values. Gas guzzling V-8’s, the boomer generation’s definition of cool, have fallen off the market share cliff. The auto industry is growing sales selling more fuel efficient cars that mitigate pump pain while still delivering fun-to-drive performance.

Demographic economics and climate change

Micro-economics could be considered a dismal science because it has a pretty pessimistic view of people. Micro-economics assumes people will make decisions around short run optimization. For example, they will buy value meals because they are cheap, fast and designed to be tasty through high concentrations of sugar, salt and fat. Only when years of short term decision-making creates long term costs like obesity and diabetes will consumers reevaluate their decision making. This type of American short run optimization decision-making has created the unsustainable economy we now face.

But demographic tumult is driving America toward a sustainable economy. The days of the boomer generation’s "Supersize me" consumption with its world-leading levels of emissions are coming to their unsustainable end. We still face their long term costs in the form of higher medical costs from a diet of fast food and sodas. We still face their long term costs in the form of higher commodity prices tied to the accelerated consumption of scare resources like water and oil. We still face their long term costs from climate change created by a boomer generation that viewed greenhouse gases as a political issue rather than a cost that is increasingly disrupting our economy, health and safety.

A sustainable economy is emerging as the boomer generation downsizes its footprint to sustain themselves. Rising to replace the boomer generation, the millennial generation views sustainability as their future. They have adopted reduce, reuse and repurpose as best practices for ensuring their economic success. They are driving adoption of the Internet of Things (IOT) that optimizes resource use. Moms are accelerating the shift toward sustainability from their demand for products that cost less and mean more in terms of the wellness of their loved ones. A sustainable economy is emerging at our cash registers, utility meters and fuel pumps. It being created from a demographic tumult that is reshaping America and our economy around sustainable best practices.

Image credit: Flickr/oregondot

Bill Roth is an economist and the Founder of Earth 2017. He coaches business owners and leaders on proven best practices in pricing, marketing and operations that make money and create a positive difference. His book, The Secret Green Sauce, profiles business case studies of pioneering best practices that are proven to win customers and grow product revenues. Follow him on Twitter: @earth2017

By Shawn Cronin

It’s widely known the role businesses play in influencing and responding to consumer demand, but a growing number of businesses—large and small—are recognizing their own power to not only shape supply and demand, but also to change social norms.

Responding to consumer demand

When businesses make a change, whether through the introduction of new products or modifying their public messaging, it is often in reaction to customer demand. Demand may take the form of repeated consumer inquiries around a topic such as organic food or fair trade, or from reviewing and responding to sales trends.

Every time a person spends money, they are casting a vote--a vote for what they care most about at that moment: cost, personal health, social impact, environmental impact, etc. Consumer choices typically express their interest and values. Some customers go beyond using their purchasing power alone, telling their chef, retailer or supplier the importance of a particular product.

Consumer demands for sustainable options

Consumer demand has been a powerful change agent in the case of land-based sources of protein, successfully influencing farming practices and turning phrases like “cage-free,” “free-range” and “grass-fed” into household words. These same conscious consumers are also at the forefront of the sustainable seafood movement. An ever-increasing number of consumers are voicing their desire for sustainable seafood options. By inquiring how or where a seafood item was caught or farmed, or asking if it is sustainable, customers let businesses know where their priorities--and dollars--are headed. Get enough people asking the same questions and expressing the same values, and any savvy business will want to respond to that concern. For some businesses, such a response may already align with corporate core values, while other businesses will see an opportunity—or potential risk—and look to meet that demand.

An opportunity to educate

We all know that the customer—at any level in a supply chain—can affect demand up the supply chain, but often overlooked is the effect and importance of businesses educating and influencing down the supply chain by increasing consumer awareness. This could take the form of a seafood distributor sharing the sustainability information of their inventory with a retailer, or a chef promoting a sustainable seafood dish to patrons.

A retailer identifying which of their items is harvested in a more sustainable manner or comes from healthy stocks has the opportunity to reach a new consumer that may not have known that to be a possible issue. Wholesalers providing sustainability information to their clients may spark awareness to restaurants or retailers that previously hadn’t considered sustainability as an attribute to consider during purchasing and how their decision affects the marketplace.

Through marketing their efforts and educating down the supply chain, businesses help reaffirm the importance of environmentally responsible seafood and the importance of their commitment. They help reach the masses with an important message, set themselves apart in the marketplace, and ultimately benefit from the increased awareness.

In terms of sustainable seafood, regional retailers such as PCC Market in Seattle and Mom’s Organic in Maryland look to make their customers' purchasing decisions easy by offering only sustainable seafood. They communicate this effort at the point-of-sale and identify the Seafood Watch sustainability rating of each seafood item for their customers. Their patrons confidently shop for seafood knowing their grocery of choice has worked to provide only environmentally responsible options or are introduced to the concept of seafood sustainability and become better informed. National retailers such as Whole Foods have set similar standards, and we see large chains such as Safeway and Trader Joe's starting to offer more and more sustainable options.

As businesses both large and small collectively ask their suppliers to provide more sustainable options, the supply chain looks to adjust in order to meet demand. And just as retailers work to meet the demand of their customers, so too do the suppliers for theirs.

Royal Hawaiian Seafood of San Francisco and Santa Monica Seafood of Southern California (among others), both recognize the importance of providing sustainable seafood and work to identify which of their items meet this criteria by identifying the Seafood Watch rating of their products online for all buyers to see. They strive to make the purchasing decision of their customers easier by finding more environmentally responsible alternatives and in some cases using their buying power to create change on the water through direct improvement of fishing or farming operations.

Thousands of businesses nationwide use Seafood Watch recommendations in their buying decisions and a growing number have become Seafood Watch recognized business partners by making either time-bound commitments to sell only seafood rated as a “Best Choice” or “Good Alternative,” or committing to identify environmentally responsible options to their customers. As more businesses take these opportunities to educate, customers at all levels of the supply chain grow more aware of the issues affecting the world’s oceans. As their awareness grows, so does their demand for seafood caught and harvested in environmentally responsible ways and that shift in demand can be both good for business and the health of our oceans.

Image courtesy of Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch. 

Shawn Cronin is the Business Outreach Manager for Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch®.

Pioneering third-party solar leasing, as well as solar lease asset securitization, Elon Musk's SolarCity has been burning up the financial, solar and clean energy industry news networks for a while now.

Keen to add momentum to its rapidly expanding business, SolarCity today announced a partnership with another pioneering and fast-growing start-up, this one in the field of online advertising and promotions. Now the largest solar power provider in the U.S., SolarCity, and Groupon  have launched “the first online offer of its kind for solar power systems.”

SolarCity-Groupon "deal of the day"

According to a joint press release, the two Nasdaq-listed companies will work together to offer deals on home solar photovoltaic (PV) power systems on Groupon's online marketplace. An initial, signature Groupon "deal of the day" carrot to entice online marketplace participants is already out there. “For a limited time, customers can benefit from additional savings with a deal from Groupon by paying $1 for $400 off” a residential solar power system leased and installed by SolarCity, according to the joint press release.

The nationwide marketing and promotional partnership with SolarCity is Groupon's first in the solar energy sector. Groupon's active subscriber base--or potential solar PV customers--stands at more than 51 million. More than 200,000 bargains are available at present, Chicago-based Groupon highlights.

Growing fast, SolarCity at present “serves thousands of communities and major metropolitan areas in 15 states.” The partnership with Groupon could prove a very productive, and rewarding, means for SolarCity to generate pre-qualified leads and close residential solar PV deals en masse.

Shelling out a buck and taking advantage of today's SolarCity promotion, Groupon subscribers will be contacted by SolarCity to schedule a consultation. From there, the companies explain:

“If the homeowner decides to move forward with solar service, the discount will be applied. Homeowners can install their solar system for free and pay only for the power.”

Interested? You can learn more about SolarCity's Groupon home solar promotional offer by clicking here.

Image credits: 1) Groupon; 2) SolarCity

Last week was a busy and eventful one for the solar energy industry as market participants from across the U.S., and around the world, gathered in Anaheim, Calif. for the Department of Energy's (DOE) SunShot Grand Challenge Summit 2014. Among the highlights of the four-day summit: The DOE announced funding for six new concentrating solar power-thermochemical energy storage (TCES) R&D projects and launched SunShot Catalyst, a $1 million crowdsourcing contest that the Energy Department believes can accelerate the pace of solar energy innovation and cost reductions.

The SunShot Grand Challenge Summit 2014's event calendar was chock full of Obama administration and industry heavyweights and thought leaders, including ARPA-E's Dr. Cheryl Martin, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory's (NREL) Dan Arvizu, and the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy's Cristin Dorgelo.

Commenting on President Barack Obama's SunShot Initiative, the White House Domestic Policy Council's Ali Zaidi stated, “If moonshot was a race away from our planet, SunShot, in a way, is a race to save our planet.”

Crowdsourcing innovation to bring down solar energy soft costs

The overriding aim of the summit was to focus attention and rally industry participants and policy makers around making a concerted “push” to realize the 40 percent reduction in solar energy costs that would achieve the SunShot Initiative's goal: bringing the cost of solar energy down to 6 cents per kilowatt-hour (kWh), a levelized cost on par or below that of “other non-renewable sources of electricity generation.”

Providing impetus for the effort, the DOE announced the launch of the SunShot Catalyst Program. With the aim of accelerating breakthroughs capable of driving the "soft costs" of solar energy lower and thereby bringing the overall cost of solar energy down to the SunShot Initiative goal of 6 cents per kWh.

The DOE's SunShot Catalyst, through a series of prize challenges, “makes it faster and easier for American innovators to launch cutting-edge solar companies, while tackling time-sensitive market challenges.”

Consisting of four steps, SunShot Catalyst's winning contestants will receive awards totaling $1 million, including some $500,000 in cash prizes. Up to five winners in Step One, the “Ideation” stage, will take home $1,000 in cash each.

As many as 20, Step Two “Business Innovation” winners will receive $25,000 in services. Up to 20 finalists in the Step Three “Prototype” stage will advance to Step Four, the “Incubation” stage. As many as five Step Five winners will each earn a prize package valued at up to $100,000. The first cash prizes are to be announced on Feb. 9, 2015.

In addition to the cash prizes and packages, the DOE will provide unparalleled support to help assure SunShot Catalyst contestants succeed. All contestants, for instance, will gain access “to the vast array of tools, capabilities, data assets and additional resources” developed by the Energy Department and national labs. That includes tapping into “the nation's growing networks of technology mentors, incubators, and accelerators.” Check out the video for more:

$10 million SunShot funding for concentrating solar power-thermochemical energy storage

As 3p has been reporting, a new iteration of utility-scale concentrating solar power plants (CSP) capable of supplying clean, renewable electricity 24 hours a day, seven days a week is coming online. Integrating high-density thermochemical energy storage systems (TCES) with CSP plants, Energy Department funding and support has been pivotal in achieving this milestone.

As the Energy Department explains, its “CSP ELEMENTS”–Efficiently Leveraging Equilibrium Mechanisms for Engineering New Thermochemical nergy Storage (TCES)–funding program supports development of TCES systems “that can validate a cost of less than or equal to $15 per kilowatt-hour-thermal (kWht) and operate at temperatures greater than or equal to 650 degrees Celsius."

As the Energy Department explains,

“TCES presents opportunities for storing the sun's energy at high densities in the form of chemical bonds for use in utility-scale concentrating solar power (CSP) electricity generation.”

During last week's SunShot summit, the Energy Department announced $10 million in new CSP ELEMENTS funding for six R&D projects. From the DOE's CSP ELEMENTS website, here's the list of awardees and a brief description of their R&D projects:

• Colorado School of Mines, SunShot Award Amount: $1,008,511

Project Summary: This project will explore how changing the chemical make-up of sand-like particles called perovskites can reduce the cost of the particles without destroying the usefulness of the perovskite chemical reaction responsible for storing the sun’s energy. These newly designed sand-like particles, or perovskites, will be tested at high temperatures using concentrated solar power to prove their usefulness as thermochemical energy storage materials. This project builds upon strategies to efficiently heat sand-like particles that were devised by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, as well as expertise at both the Colorado School of Mines and Abengoa Solar.

• Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, SunShot Award Amount: $2,906,415

Project Summary: This project uses a high-temperature metal hydride bed to capture the sun’s heat at or above 650°C and a second metal hydride bed to store the hydrogen gas released by the heat capture process. The second hydride bed operates near room temperature. The pairing of the two high and low temperature hydride beds enables hydrogen gas storage at low pressures, reducing costs to a level unachievable by current gas storage methods. This solution will enable solar power generation for extended periods of time.

• Sandia National Laboratories, SunShot Award Amount: $3,450,000

Project Summary: This project seeks to design a system that concentrates sunlight onto a falling curtain of sand-like particles called perovskites. The perovskites heat up and undergo a chemical reaction. The chemical reaction captures the sun’s energy and the perovskites are stored until the sun goes down. The pervoskites are then re-exposed to air, reversing the chemical reaction and releasing the sun’s heat for use in a very efficient Air-Brayton electric power generation system. The project evaluates how effective the chemical reaction is through a test of a 100 kilowatt hour-thermal thermochemical energy storage system.

• Southern Research Institute, SunShot Award Amount: $836,697

Project Summary: This project seeks to develop a thermochemical energy storage system (TCES) that uses low-cost calcium carbonate and silicate materials in an endothermic-exothermic chemical reaction cycle. The cycle stores energy during the endothermic step and releases energy during the exothermic step, both of which proceed at temperatures at or above 650°C. This work advances the proposed technology readiness level of the TCES system by demonstrating the system’s key advantages, including its high efficiencies and its potential to meet a cost target of $15 per kilowatt hour-thermal.

• University of Florida, SunShot Award Amount: $791,200

Project Summary: This project employs strontium carbonate and high temperature concentrated solar power in an endothermic-exothermic chemical reaction cycle to provide around-the-clock energy. This project uses inexpensive, safe, non-corrosive chemicals. During no-sunlight periods, solar heat can be released at temperatures previously unachievable with other carbonate-based thermochemical energy storage systems.

• University of California, Los Angeles, SunShot Award Amount: $1,182,788

Project Summary: This project seeks to leverage the well-understood ammonia synthesis reaction and apply it to solar thermochemical storage. The project seeks to optimize the synthesis reactor and associated heat exchanger to prove that the ammonia synthesis reaction can be used to directly generate supercritical steam at 650°C, a feat not yet proven.

Image courtesy of the SunShot Grand Challenge Summit

We are at a proverbial crossroads when it comes to climate change and avoiding its worst impacts. Total annual global greenhouse gas emissions need to drop to a net of 41 gigatons of carbon dioxide equivalent (GtCO2e) in order to have a chance of limiting warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius. Total annual global emissions of greenhouse gases (GHG) in 2012 were 52 GtCO2e.

Although the situation may seem dire, there is something that can help sequester vast amounts of carbon dioxide emissions, and it is called regenerative organic agriculture for soil-carbon sequestration. More than 100 percent of current annual carbon emissions could be sequestered by switching to regenerative organic agriculture, according to a new report from the organic farming nonprofit Rodale Institute.

Regenerative organic agriculture is a term coined by Robert Rodale, son of American organic pioneer and Rodale Institute founder J.I. Rodale. It is an organic farming system that does not use synthetic pesticides, which can do damage to the soil, or nitrogen fertilizer, which causes nitrous oxide, a GHG 300 times more potent than carbon dioxide. Nitrous oxide accounts for about 40 percent of all GHG emissions globally. Regenerative organic agriculture uses conservation tillage, cover crops, residue mulching, composting and crop rotation and can “easily” keep annual emissions within the desirable range of 41 to 47 GtCO2e by 2020, according to the report.

The most common agricultural practices today are doing the opposite of sequestering emissions: GHG emissions from the agriculture sector accounted for 9 percent of total GHG emissions, according to Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates. GHG emissions from agriculture have increased by 19 percent since 1990.

The practices used in regenerative organic agriculture not only pose the best chance for sequestering vast amounts of carbon, but they are also good for the soil. They “minimize biota disturbance and erosion losses while incorporating carbon rich amendments and retaining the biomass of roots and shoots,” the reports authors wrote. All of those things contribute to carbon sequestration.

Take conservation tillage, which is not widely practiced in organic farming but is “integral to soil- carbon sequestration,” the report states. Switching to conservation tillage would improve soil structure plus reduce carbon emissions while contributing to increases in soil organic carbon. No-till farming systems are also a part of regenerative organic agriculture as they have the best chance of reversing the “trend of soil organic carbon losses in agriculture” when used with cover-cropping and enhanced crop rotations. No-till organic farming has been shown to increase soil organic carbon by 9 percent after two years and 21 percent after six years.

Conventional farming already uses cover crops. Travel to California’s San Joaquin Valley and you might see cover crops planted between vineyard rows. Cover crops are very good for the soil as they discourage wind and water erosion. They also increase soil carbon and reduce nitrogen leaching. The report cites other benefits of cover cropping, including  reduced weed pressure, decreased water runoff, improved soil structure and water infiltration and reduced evaporation.

Image credit: Chesapeake Bay Program

TriplePundit reported live from the Fortune Brainstorm Green 2014 conference in Laguna Niguel, CA. Follow along on this page for ongoing video interviews with sustainability thought leaders, corporate change agents and entrepreneurs who are leading the way to a more sustainable future.

In my second interview at Fortune Brainstorm Green last week I got to talk to Alcoa's Chief Sustainability Officer, Kevin McKnight. Alcoa is a well-regarded leader in sustainability, with some of its industry's most rigorous and long-standing sustainability initiatives. Kevin provides insight into Alcoa's leadership—both on how and what it makes. We also went into some of the details around Alcoa's recent success in the automotive industry helping make cars much lighter, and therefor more fuel efficient.

PG Tips maker Unilever is embarking on a tea research and development programme aimed at 'future proofing' the supply of the world's most popular beverage. 

Using advanced plant breeding methods and broadening the natural diversity of tea plants to enhance their productivity, quality and overall sustainability, the project will also help arrest any decline in tea crop diversity that could limit the crop’s ability to withstand drought, disease and pests in the future.

Clive Gristwood, senior vp, R&D refreshment at Unilever, commented: “This project is part of Unilever’s commitment to delivering real sustainability in the production and procurement of tea. It is critical that we act now in developing tea varieties that can thrive in the face of the challenges of tomorrow. Using cutting edge plant breeding we hope to naturally meet growing global demand whilst ensuring tea can continue to provide vital economic benefits to communities that rely on the crop for their income.

“The ability to grow more tea on less land, reduce further the need for agrochemicals while boosting tolerance to drought and climate change are integral to this project and in line with our sustainable sourcing aims under the Unilever Sustainable Living Plan."

The project, in partnership with Nature Source Genetics, will be initiated within Unilever’s tea gardens in Kenya, complementing the existing agronomy programme already housed there.
 

The vast majority (80%) of consumers aged 20-40 in the US and the UK believe total privacy in the digital world is a thing of the past, a new study by management consultancy Accenture shows.

Indeed, the majority of respondents – 87% - believe adequate safeguards are not in place to protect their personal information and 64% are concerned about websites tracking their buying behaviour.

More than half (56%) say they are trying to safeguard their privacy by inputting their credit card information each time they make an online purchase rather than having that data stored for future use. And 70% believe businesses aren't transparent about how their information is being used, while 68% say there is not enough transparency around what is being done with their information.

“Since 51% of those surveyed said they would prefer for companies to stop tracking their shopping behaviour, companies must find ways to establish more trust with customers and an effective formula for reaching them without crossing a data privacy line. For consumers there's a direct correlation between privacy tolerance and value,” commented Glen Hartman, global managing director of Digital Transformation for Accenture Interactive.
 

The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) has entered into a formal agreement with Betfred, which aims to improve diversity and equality awareness among the high street bookmakers 5,000 employees.

The bookmaker has more than 1,350 betting shops in the UK and was contacted by the EHRC after an Employment Tribunal ruled against it in 2011 for failing to prevent the sexual harassment and subsequent victimisation of an employee.

Betfred has committed to a full review of its management practice in handling grievances and disciplinary proceedings; the rolling out of specific diversity training throughout its organisation, and a programme of activities designed to promote acceptance of a diverse workforce.

As part of the agreement the company will report to the EHRC in July on its progress to date in implementing these measures, the number of managers that have received diversity training, and its progress in revising the staff handbook.

It will provide a final report to the Commission in December 2014 updating that information and providing details of any discrimination cases in the previous months. It will also inform staff of the agreement through its intranet and newsletter.

Commission Chief Legal Officer, Rebecca Hilsenrath said: “Betfred will be working with us to make sure they are taking effective steps to improve the awareness among their workforce of how they need to treat customers and each other."
 

As TriplePundit founder Nick Aster and I drive to Redkey, Indiana to visit Bell Aquaculture's farm and facilities, it's hard not to let my mind wander as I stare out the window into the lush, rural countryside. Here in America's heartland, farmers grow everything from corn and soy to apples, oats and peppermint, to feed hungry mouths across the country. But as an ever-expanding list of studies show, it will prove more and more difficult to feed a growing population with the methods we now use.

As I gaze listlessly across the vast expanse of our nation's breadbasket, I can't help but wonder what will become of these peaceful prairies and quiet towns as populations boom and farmers struggle to keep up. These quasi-apocalyptic musings may seem like a bit of a downer on an otherwise warm and sunny morning, but my mind is put instantly at ease upon meeting Bell's CEO, Norman McCowan.

An unassuming man with a smooth Southern accent and warm, friendly eyes, McCowan takes the agricultural challenges of a resource constrained world not as a catastrophe, but as a challenge to create a better, stronger and more sustainable system. His company, Bell Aquaculture, is looking to redefine fish farming as an ecologically sound solution to humanity's growing demand for seafood--and protein in general, in a larger sense.

Nick and I were itching to see some fish, but our first stop was McCowan's own farm, a few miles away from Bell's facilities. As McCowan walked us through the grounds--from his strawberry greenhouse and grove of local pecan, maple and oak trees, to his fish pond and prized Purple Martins--I feel almost in awe of his passion.

His face lights up with excitement as he describes the different sights, sounds and ecosystems; like Bell's own operations, every detail of McCowan's farm is thought out and understood. Through the gentle sound of leaves rustling in the wind, McCowan's keen ear picks up a birdcall. "That's a pileated woodpecker!" he remarks excitedly, a wide grin spreading across his face. "See him up in those branches there?" It's impossible not to smile.

Although his duties at Bell surely keep him busy, McCowan still found time to construct nearly every inch of his farm himself--often with help from the Bell staff and their teenaged children, along with his own 10-year-old son and 13-year-old daughter.

The farm seems almost like an extension of Bell Aquaculture itself: McCowan gives his fish the same tailor-made feed Bell uses, and he fertilizes his crops with the company's signature fertilizer, FishRich, made from processing plant off-cuts. He even runs experiments on the farm, using FishRich for some crops and not others--although we can attest to the fact that the FishRich crops seem to grow much better.

Observing McCowan's connection to his land, it's easy to see where Bell's holistic approach to sustainability comes from. When we arrive at Bell's fish farm, I'm not surprised to meet one engaged, passionate staff member after another--each excited to tell the story of the company's fish.

They eagerly describe Bell's vertically oriented system: The company operates its own hatchery and optimizes the growing environment for its fish all the way through their lifecycle. Water is filtered in a closed-loop RAS system, which recovers around 99 percent of all water used. The remainder is sent to a fully-functioning wetlands out back, where it settles through the aquifer and then back into the system.

Rather than pumping fish full of antibiotics, Bell uses mostly sodium chloride (or salt, for us non-scientific types), as well as hydrogen peroxide for injured fish. In addition to farming three species of fish--yellow perch, rainbow trout and coho salmon--the company gains as much as 20 percent of its revenue from the sale of its FishRich fertilizer. Bell plans to use residual solids from the water filtration system--mainly fish waste--to produce high quality worm castings by the end of this year.

The company will also open its own feed mill this summer, producing as much as 2.2 million pounds of plant-based fish feed every month. Since the company only uses about 2.5 million pounds of feed annually, sales of the remaining feed--made mostly from locally-farmed ingredients--is expected to comprise another 20 percent of the company's revenue stream, if not more, predicts Becky Priebe, marketing director for Bell.

While many aquaculture ventures have tried and failed, Bell is projecting profitability this year, so there's obviously something different about McCowan's holistic, vertically-integrated approach.

Stay tuned for more coverage from our trip--including an inside look at Bell's fish farm--coming soon on TriplePundit.