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Tis the season, and we all are buying gifts. The question is how to do so without saddling friends and families with returns, throwaway gift paper or mounds of fattening desserts.

Here are seven gift ideas that show you care for not only the person receiving the gift, but also for people and planet.

1. Make a donation

This is my favorite gift. I give to a charity that I think aligns with the gift recipient’s passions. Does she love dogs? A gift in her name to the humane society always results in a truly genuine positive response. What family is not touched by health issues like heart disease or cancer? A gift to the Heart Association or Cancer Society is a thoughtful and meaningful way of saying you care. Looking for a charity? I use Charity Navigator to find credible nonprofits. The site also has top 10 lists that cover a diverse range of charities.

2. Shop local

Make a local difference this holiday season. For every dollar you spend locally, you create about 45 cents of added wealth for your community in the form of jobs and taxes. Start with Yelp’s top 20 cities for local shopping. Or do a search for your local community, and I bet you will be surprised at the ideas that surface.

3. Give a digital gift

For us bald old guys, the standard 20th-century gift was a magazine subscription. Of course that creates 12 months of magazines in the trash. Try the 21st-century gift version by giving a digital subscription. Amazon’s top 100 digital magazines includes something for everyone.

Other ideas include giving a digital movie or digital music. If you have a millennial on your list, a digital gift will demonstrate you care -- and that you may be cooler than they thought.

4. Healthy food gifts

Am I shooting myself in the foot here by recommending the giving of healthy food? Don't get me wrong. I love holiday desserts. Sign me up for pumpkin pies topped with whipped cream and big platters of chocolate chip cookies! I don’t want to be a Grinch, but we are in a national weight crisis. So, what about giving good food instead?

One idea is signing someone up for a CSA (community supported agriculture) membership. These memberships deliver in-season fruits and vegetables to the door. We all need to eat more good-for-us food. Make it easy for a friend or loved one by giving them a CSA membership.

5. Give a repurposed gift

Gosh, people are so creative. It amazes and delights me when I see what artists can do with the things we throw away. Have you ever shopped online with Etsy? Here’s a link to the e-commerce site's repurposed gift items. You'd never know they were made from trash.

Or, in the spirit of shopping local, search out your community’s artists and craftspeople. So many of these talented people are repurposing things to make art -- and giving them your patronage will brighten their day as well as your loved one's.

6. Give an experience

Depending on the experience, giving something like a concert ticket or hosting a party has a lower environmental footprint compared to something that has to be made, packaged, shipped and gift-wrapped.

Millennials love experiences. Research has found that 78 percent of millennials would choose to spend money on a desirable experience over buying something. Give your millennial something they really want. Give them an experience. Take comfort in knowing that this year they will not be throwing gift wrapping paper away or going through the hassle of exchanging your gift so they can buy the fun time they're really after.

7. Sustainably produced gifts

If you are giving something like clothes, then buy the ones that are sustainably made. Please consider an alternative to fast fashion where a garment is worn and then discarded. Here's a list of 35 fashion companies that have great looks that are responsibly produced.

Image credit: Pexels

By Dr. Robin Berzin

The modern workforce needs corporate wellness now more than ever. But most companies just aren’t getting it right.

It’s no secret that we’re working ourselves sick. Anxiety disorders affect more than 40 million Americans, and depression affects 16 million. In 2011, doctors wrote 75 million prescriptions for the anxiety drugs Xanax and Ativan. Concurrently, autoimmune disease is skyrocketing in young women and now affects 50 million people. And over 66 percent of American adults are overweight or obese.

This isn’t to mention one of the most pervasive problems I see at my own medical practice, Parsley Health — intense burnout.

Corporate wellness has ballooned to a $6 billion industry. But many of these companies are designing programs primarily with their bottom line in mind, not the actual health of the employee. They are designing services that can easily get past the gauntlet of bureaucratic red tape in large corporate human resources departments and allow them to make a large enterprise sale.

Well-meaning companies want to offer wellness perks like on-demand doctors and free gym memberships to their employees. But sadly these don’t often move the needle when it comes to improving employee health.

Why? There are two main issues. The first is measurement and analysis. Most companies don’t realize how unhealthy their employees are or what is actually ailing them. I talk to HR leads all the time who tell me their workforce is “young and healthy.” But this is just anecdotal observation. No one bothers to collect information on how healthy or unhealthy their employees actually are and there may be a lot more going on under the surface.

The second issue is that many corporate wellness programs don’t deliver measurable improvements in health, they just create data that looks good on paper and may even waste money.

These are the top six mistakes with corporate wellness I see weekly when I talk to HR leads:

1. On-demand doctors don’t improve long-term wellness.

Most employees use these as Band-Aids to treat things like a sinus infection, a sore throat or food poisoning; things that result in obtaining a prescription drug.

This is all well and good for the moment, but it never gets to the root cause of the problem and it also contributes to a system that vastly over-prescribes both antibiotics and painkillers to the detriment of patients. Bottom line: These services don’t make people happier and healthier, they just make getting a prescription drug (which is often unnecessary) more convenient.

2. Easy isn’t the same as healthy.

I've spoken with top tech companies who offer on-demand doctors, free gym memberships and up to $2,000 a year in “wellness dollars.” This money can be spent on anything from dry cleaning to pet care.

None of this makes the 28-year-old developer with severe psoriasis requiring regular dermatology visits and causing considerable stress any healthier. None of this helps the 35-year-old woman who isn’t sure if she can get pregnant because she has irregular periods, but doesn’t want to do IVF (in-vitro fertilization) automatically. None of this helps the mom of two who is back in the workforce dealing with crushing fatigue and weight gain that makes her depressed. And none of this helps the 45-year-old man popping acid-reflux meds, which lead to poor protein absorption, nutrient depletion and bloating, avoid an unnecessary $2,000 colonoscopy.

While “easy” may look good on paper, companies would better serve their employees if they helped them address their health problems with expert medical advice instead of a Google search.

3. Your employees are not as healthy as you think

We've assessed employees' true health needs using proprietary surveys. The data is eye-opening for employers who had no idea that fatigue, headaches, hormonal problems and digestive issues plagued their population of “young healthy workers,” or that stress levels had hit a breaking point. Companies can’t ask these questions of employees directly because of privacy concerns.

4. A food program isn’t a nutrition program

Companies mean well by having food available 24/7 in the office. At our WeWork in New York City, there is an “honesty market” filled mainly with processed, sugar-laden, preservative- and dye-filled, shelf-stable foods, none of which should be consumed by anyone whose goal is to be healthy on any kind of regular basis.

I also visited one of the world’s top VC firms on Sand Hill Road last year, where lunch was served daily. I was invited to partake in a meal of pasta with cheese sauce, french fries, and salad made of iceberg lettuce and grilled chicken of unknown sourcing. While serving workers lunch is a nice gesture, there are two huge issues here.

One, the options contained refined carbs, gluten and dairy, foods that for many people are drivers of inflammation hormone imbalances and digestive disfunction.

Two, serving free food keeps workers from leaving the office. In a world where we the majority of us are sedentary and Vitamin D deficient, encouraging people to get up from their desks, go out in the sun for a few minutes, and procure lunch would be a great thing.

5. You are incentivizing use of healthcare, not self-directed wellness.

I recently spoke to a 34-year-old woman whose husband worked for a very prominent tech company. She was undergoing IVF for the second time on the company’s dime, “because it was free.” She “tried” to get pregnant for 6 months in a time of extreme stress in her life, but then chose the IVF route because the barrier to entry was so low. She also had a thyroid condition which is a known — and correctable — cause of impaired fertility. IVF is a $20,000 procedure that is stressful, has side effects and is only 20 to 30 percent effective.

I see women daily who have been shuttled into IVF without anyone looking more deeply to understand why this woman has “tried” and “can’t” get pregnant. OBGYNs are paid to do procedures and quick visits, not to sit down for an hour with a woman to understand how stress, diet, nutrient deficiencies, hormonal imbalances, and chronic conditions might be affecting her ability to get pregnant.

So far at Parsley, we have helped 20 percent of our members with diagnosed infertility or impaired fertility get pregnant naturally. While IVF is a powerful tool for some people, paying for it out of the gate is a disservice to women and a mis-incentive by companies. Instead empowering women to get well before they try to get pregnant would be a better use of time and money.

6. Employees have no buy-in.

We know that having skin in the game incentivizes behavior change: Paying for something automatically catapults you into the “preparation” phase of the trans-theoretical model of behavior change -- past contemplation and toward action. So, unless an employee opts into a wellness program or pays for a service themselves, they have little internal incentive to continue to participate.

Having a gym membership handed to you doesn’t mean you actually go to the gym, for example. And yet corporate wellness programs are offered as lists of benefits and perks that look great on a website but that go underused.

A better idea is to insist that the employee pay at minimum $25 for a service monthly and voluntarily opt in. This ensures that the company’s contribution to an annual membership isn’t wasted on people who don’t want it or won’t use it.

The bottom line

So, what is the solution? In my view, it’s not a one-day seminar that pays lip service to lofty but impractical ideas about wellness. It’s not putting a medical clinic in every office building. It’s not a free gym membership -- at least not for most employees.

Instead, corporate wellness programs should start by analyzing what employees really need to be healthier. Next companies need to offer tailored solutions to employee needs, ideally solutions that involve a combination of medical care, nutrition, coaching and perks that make behavior change easier.

Change is a process, not an event.

Image credit: Pixabay

Dr. Robin Berzin is the founder and CEO of Parsley Health, the groundbreaking new medical practice taking a comprehensive approach to revolutionizing healthcare.

By Joyce Coffee and Elena Grossman

Before Lin-Manuel Miranda’s fame exploded with "Hamilton," he composed and won a Tony for "In the Heights," in which the song “Black Out” is performed to end Act 1. The song is about the power going out during a heat wave in an immigrant community in Queens, New York, and the chaos that ensues.

In it, the lyrics “we are powerless” are sung by the community to mean more than just being without electricity. It also sums up how many people feel about their ability to withstand the stress and strain of extreme weather.

Last month, hundreds of leaders from around the world wrapped up the annual conference of the parties about climate change, COP22, held in Marrakesh, Morocco.  They pledged to press ahead with implementation of the Paris Agreement to decrease greenhouse gas emissions and adapt to climate change.  But you need not travel far to see what the impacts of a future change in climate could mean.

In fact, Chicago offers a great case to illuminate the inequity of weather impacts on low-income neighborhoods and communities of color -– an injustice that will only intensify as the climate shifts to more heat and more floods in the region.

The ultimate illustration is a tragedy that Chicago is known for around the world: more than 700 deaths from the 1995 heat wave.  The majority of those who lost their lives were African American, and nearly all lived in communities considered below the poverty line.

But climate change isn’t just about hotter days, heat-related illnesses and deaths.  As temperatures rise, they trigger and exacerbate other health issues, such as asthma. Again, available data show the clear disparities of asthma rates among children in poorer Chicago neighborhoods.

The other impending climate impact is more precipitation -- which, here in Chicago, always poses the threat of flooding.  Mold growth in flooded homes can trigger asthma attacks and allergies, and dealing with a flooded home can cause psychological, emotional and financial stress.

“Water in Basement, WIB” is the lingo for a flooded basement from storm and sewer water backups during extreme precipitation events. WIB complaints are overall higher in poorer Chicago regions. A more updated map of approved claims from private insurance, the National Flood Insurance Program, FEMA, and the Small Business Administration (SBA) Disaster Relief highlights the same neighborhoods being heavily affected by urban flooding.

Direct causation can’t be concluded here because WIB complaints are reported to the city, and many homeowners are reluctant to report flooded basements because they fear it will reduce their property value.

Leaders who gathered in Marrakesh spent two weeks talking about how impoverished communities around the world face a disproportionately higher risk to the physical and health impacts of climate change.  This includes the disadvantaged communities in Chicago. The same communities of color and communities with high rates of poverty who face climate impacts today are many of the same with high heat-related deaths in 1995, asthma prevalence, number of asthma-related emergency department visits, and number of flooded basements and flood-related insurance claims.

This underscores the need to demand and allocate more resources to communities that face mounting risks of the extreme heat, worsening air quality, and flooding that climate change will bring.  We need to work together to ensure an equitable reduction of climate change vulnerability in Chicago.

Image credit: Household Poverty from Healthy Chicago, Chicago Department of Public Health, Source: American Community Survey, 2008-2012

Co-authored by Joyce Coffee, President, Climate Resilience Consulting and Elena Grossman, MPH, BRACE-Illinois Project Manager, University of Illinois at Chicago, School of Public Health.

This graphic illustrates how average U.K. home value increases correspond with improved energy-efficiency ratings.

By Pierre Melion

Private-sector businesses around the world have to comply with operational government regulations -- with the U.K.’s property industry soon to be hit with an increase in EPC rating standards in privately-rented homes. The regulation takes effect from April 1, 2018, prospecting for an improvement in energy efficiency across the private property sector.

Mandatory EPC ratings were introduced in order to give potential buyers, tenants and homeowners an informed understanding of a property's energy efficiency. But how will the sector be affected by the mandatory changes in domestic EPC rating standards?

What is an EPC rating?

U.K. property owners are legally obliged to provide an EPC rating when presenting a property to potential buyers and tenants. This makes it within a property owner or landlord's interest to have a satisfactory rating to improve both sales and letting prospects.

EPC ratings reveal a summary of a property's overall energy efficiency, by segmenting differing ratings within an alphabetically arranged scale. EPCs consider a property's hardware, insulation and heating facilities, allowing for an accurate representation of a property's energy efficiency.

The new government initiative aims to improve the national standard of EPC ratings across the private-sector property industry. Therefore, short-term disruption may occur for both buyers and renters in the lead-up to the changes, which will require a minimum of an ‘E’ EPC rating from April 2018. The roll-out of improved private-property EPC standards will be a major gain for tenants whose houses will be less drafty as a result, saving them money on their bills.

The graphic below visualizes the necessary requirements for landlords to comply with the new regulations, along with positive suggestions as to how the scheme would benefit the industry.

The move toward providing more energy-efficient housing will serve as an attractive gain for people looking to purchase or rent a property. Not only will occupants benefit from reduced utility bills as a result of the scheme, but property owners will also see an improvement in sustaining property value. Therefore, the initiative looks to improve the industry from a property owner, tenant and buyer perspective.

Industry impact

Across the U.K., landlords and homeowners looking to let or sell property will have to work effectively to meet the new requirements.

The introduction of the minimum standard EPC ratings will benefit the sector in a long-term financial, social and environmental stance. Imposing regulations which prospect to improve all areas of the triple bottom line (TBL) model will improve the overall logistical sustainability of the private property sector.

The decision to introduce the minimum standard can be considered sustainable, due to the scheme positively addressing all three Ps of the TBL model: people, planet and profit. The short-term disruption which may occur as a result of the scheme's rollout will be counterbalanced by the positive outcomes and benefits the private property sector will be subject to.

How can property owners improve their domestic energy efficiency?

With the approaching introduction of the scheme, it’s important for U.K. homeowners to be informed of the ways in which EPC ratings can be improved. With reference to the infographic above, here are a few things that landlords can do to improve their EPC rating in time for the changes.

Insulation: Property insulation is one of the best things to invest in order to reduce heat loss and improve energy efficiency. In addition, various U.K. government grants cover a significant proportion of the costs, which means the insulation can often be installed with a small initial outlay.

Smart storage heaters: Exactly what it says on the tin; smart storage heaters store and then release heat at pre-set times and temperatures. Not only are they up to 27 percent cheaper to run than a standard storage heater, but they’re up to 47 percent cheaper to run than an electric convector heater, and often come with a boost option for unexpected heat demands.

LED bulbs: LED bulbs are slightly more expensive, but they use 90 percent less energy than an incandescent or halogen bulbs. They also last up to 25 times longer (drastically reducing replacement costs), are safer to work with and are more much environmentally-friendly as they contain no harmful substances like mercury (often found in CFL and halogen bulbs).

Will such schemes replicate across other industries?

With the ever increasing need for people to reduce their impact on the environment, it is more than likely other business sectors and industries will follow with similar legislations to lead a more sustainable practice. Foreseeing potential environmental efficiency demands within your own business sector will be a great way to reduce excess environmental offsets and pioneer a best practice ethic as a leader within your industry.

Environmental, social, and financial variables are all factors which concern the majority of modern day businesses. Optimizing these three areas of your businesses to their maximum potential will allow your business to operate as sustainably as possible. Re-shaping a business which has sustainability embedded within the foundations of its core operational goals and objectives will strongly aid the process of integrating and embracing future operational and environmentally concerning changes within a businesses macro and microenvironment.

Image credits: 1) Graphic produced by UK Gov 2) Infographic produced by Fairview Estates and Greenvision Energy, from the Greenvision Blog

Based in Nottingham, United Kingdom, Pierre is a digital marketing executive at Impression. He graduated from Nottingham Trent University MSc in Digital Marketing, where he gained his knowledge about businesses sustainability having graduated from the UK's most sustainably aware university. You can reach out via Twitter (@impressiontalk) and Instagram (pierremelion).

 

It could be said that 2016 was the year that food waste, as an issue, went mainstream. Today, grocery stories, startups, packaging companies and local governments are all making moves to tackle this challenge. But it is in the hands of consumers – who are responsible for 43 percent of food waste in the U.S. – where the greatest potential for change lies.

One of the groups at the forefront of the food waste issue is Oakland, California-based Food Shift, which was founded in 2012. Back then, few understood just how big of an impact food waste has on both the economy and the environment.

"In order to talk about solutions, we had to get people to understand the problem," said Dana Frasz, founder and director of Food Shift. She points to the Natural Resources Defense Council's 2012 report as being the catalyst that got people engaged on this issue. But it still took years of hard work, education and awareness before we could begin to focus on solutions.

Understanding the problem

Today, the facts are all too clear. We throw away, or waste, over 40 percent of all food in the U.S. – 70 billion pounds a year -- and the global figure tops a billion tons.

Because the majority of the world lacks adequate municipal composting systems, most food waste ends up in landfills, where it decomposes slowly and emits potent greenhouse gases. In fact, if global food waste were a country, it would be the world's No. 3 emitter.

This, of course, is also an opportunity. If we can quickly reduce food waste, we can seriously cut global greenhouse gas emissions. And the power is, quite literally, in our hands.

In the past four-plus years, we've seen incredible momentum on this issue. From the ugly fruit and veggie movement, to startups utilizing previously landfilled food, to Food Shift's Alameda Kitchen. The kitchen, a social enterprise, processes fruits and vegetables that would otherwise be wasted into soups and other foodstuffs for the local community, while training formerly homeless individuals in culinary skills.

Good practices by major actors – and better policies, such as food labeling standards or proper portion packaging -- matter greatly. But the daily choices consumers make in their kitchens matter just as much.

"Forty-three percent of all food waste is happening in the home," Frasz told TriplePundit. "There's a huge opportunity for us eaters to become more aware about how to purchase our food, plan out our meals, and learning how to store our food better."

There's an economic angle as well, Frasz added.

"The average family of four in the U.S. is spending $1,500 to $2,200 a year on food they waste." If that money were, say, saved for college tuition, it could help play a positive role in a family's well-being. There is also opportunity here in training workers to participate in a food recovery industry, which would prevent food waste and also provide well-paying jobs.

Actionable steps for consumers

So, where do we start? The best time is right now, because the holiday season in particular can be one of excess. This is when we gather for large meals with family and friends. We often overcook, and unless leftovers are properly managed, far too much of it ends up in trash cans.

Part of the challenge is education. Most households just do not know how to manage food quantities properly because in America we weren't taught how. Throwing away food was considered acceptable for decades, and producers even packaged food, or labeled it, to promote waste.

Today, there are several guides and tools to help consumers better learn about their role in preventing food waste at home (we've included a few tips below). Technology is also helping us better manage our fridges and pantries. Apps can now help consumers keep track of what's in their kitchen – and when it might spoil. Love Food Hate Waste takes this a step further, providing recipes based on what and how much of any ingredient you have in your kitchen, helping you make delicious dishes with food that might otherwise go to waste.

We've made incredible progress in turning food waste into a mainstream issue. Let's ensure that 2017 is the year we began to make measurable progress on ending food waste.

Tips for reducing food waste in your home:

• Bring to-go containers to group dinners: Leaving the host with huge amounts of food – like half a turkey – often leads to waste. Bring a container to share the burden.


• The freezer is your friend: Food can stay frozen for quite some time. Be sure to keep excess food in the freezer.


• Turn to tech: Download Love Food Hate Waste or other useful Food Waste apps to help you manage your impact.

Want more tips? Check out Food Shift's handy guide, or these ones from the Environmental Protection Agency and NRDC.

 

Image credit: Pixabay

Whirlpool Corp. is building a strong corporate social responsibility profile, and its latest venture demonstrates how American manufacturers can save jobs with clean power. The company just broke ground on three new wind turbines that will enable its Marion, Ohio, plant to run on 19 percent wind energy while saving on overhead. The move will help Whirlpool stay competitive and keep production jobs in the U.S.

The new turbines also demonstrate that the bottom line will continue to propel decarbonization, even though the incoming Trump administration plans to cut pollution regulations set in motion under President Barack Obama.

Three new wind turbines for Whirlpool

One interesting aspect of the new wind power project is that the turbines will be located on the factory site and provide power directly. They will also double as a powerful branding statement.

The company's director of global sustainability, Ron Voglewede, explained how the visual impact of three massive wind turbines enhances the Whirlpool name:

"We're always exploring cutting edge technologies that will bring us closer to accomplishing our sustainability goals. We're excited to bring a local focus for our global commitment to sustainability here in the Marion community and throughout Ohio, where we have significant investments in employees and facilities."

The direct-to-factory model for renewable energy also provides Whirlpool with a strong story for customers who look for sustainability markers in their home appliances.

In a press release announcing the new turbines, Whirlpool noted that the Marion project is just part of a broader on-site wind energy plan.

The company has two wind turbines at its nearby Findlay plant up and running, and another wind project is under way at a Whirlpool facility in Ottawa.

Aside from clean energy, other recent CSR efforts by Whirlpool include a long-term relationship with Habitat for Humanity. The company has also donated washers and dryers for an innovative project aimed at boosting school attendance.

The wind power bottom line

The big question is: Why would Whirlpool bother to invest in building its own turbines? The U.S. Midwest has become a hotbed of wind energy development, and opportunities are growing to plug into a grid mix that includes wind power.

That's a good question, and the company One Energy has the answer.

The wind developer One Energy is Whirlpool's partner in the project, and the company makes a good pitch for its Wind for Industry on-site turbine package:

"One Energy provides the services to harness the wind resource you already own. When you own your wind, you will not only reduce your energy costs today, but you will protect your company from electric rate increases in the future."

To sweeten the pot, One Energy offers to finance the turbines through a Power Purchase Agreement. Under a PPA, One Energy takes complete responsibility for installing the turbines. The site owner simply pays for electricity generated by the turbines at a pre-determined, long term rate.

Cutting jobs, with automation

Speaking of Whirlpool, past moves by the company illustrate why President-elect Donald Trump's much publicized job-saving claim really is all smoke and mirrors.

Back in 2009, Whirlpool acquired Maytag and cut about 3,000 total jobs. In 2010 it moved about 1,000 jobs from Indiana to Mexico.

Since then, the company has brought jobs back to the U.S. from Mexico but in a trickle, not a flood.

In 2013, for example, Whirlpool shifted some of its washing machine production from a facility in Mexico to one in Clyde, Ohio. The move brought about 80 to 100 new employees to the Ohio plant.

Wages at the U.S. facility were about five times more than in Mexico, but the company cited three main factors that shifted the bottom-line balance in favor of U.S. production.

Shipping costs would be lower, for one thing. Another major factor was the lower cost of electricity in Clyde.

And, the third factor was automation. The Clyde plant demonstrates Whirlpool's "smart automation" strategy for competitive manufacturing in the U.S.

The automation angle is relevant to Trump's Carrier deal: In a widely reported interview last week, the chairman and CEO of Carrier's parent company, United Technologies, indicated that Carrier has been following Whirlpool onto the automation track.

In fact, Carrier plans to use its Trump-orchestrated bailout package to pay for automation upgrades.

Automation is the real issue. It has been "killing" jobs for generations. That trend is accelerating with the advent of new processes like 3-D printing and the development of advanced robotics.

So far, the Trump administration has not voiced a strategy for dealing effectively with that trend.

Image (cropped): One Energy via prnewswire, rendering of proposed turbines at Whirlpool plant.

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News broke last week that President-elect Donald Trump tapped Dow Chemical CEO Andrew Liveris to lead the Manufacturing Council. The move was promoted as part of Trump's campaign promise to create more manufacturing jobs in the U.S, so let's take a closer look at the tools that Liveris can apply to that job.

Layoffs, and more layoffs

At first glance, the Dow Chemical connection does not bode well for the future of U.S. manufacturing jobs. Like other manufacturers, Dow has been restructuring over the past several years, resulting in mass layoffs.

The Wall Street Journal totes up the damage in the U.S. and elsewhere:

"Dow in May 2015 said it would eliminate about 1,750 positions following a deal to separate much of its chlorine operations, and in February of this year the company said it planned to cut an additional 450 jobs," the Journal's Michael C. Bender wrote on Saturday.

"In June, Dow said it would lay off a further 2,500 employees, or around 4 percent of its global workforce, which included the planned shutdown of silicones plants in North Carolina and Japan ..."

More jobs, but not more manufacturing jobs

What Dow Chemical does bring to the job-creating table is a lengthy track record in research and development. That history was underscored during Trump's announcement last week, when Liveris took the opportunity to make an announcement of his own.

Liveris stated that Dow Chemical would open a new R&D center in Michigan that would create about 100 new jobs. Another 100 positions at the facility would be filled by existing Dow employees now working outside of the U.S.

The training and qualifications for positions in R&D are quite different than typical manufacturing jobs. So, if Trump supporters were hoping for more feet on the factory floor, the new Dow facility is not it.

The EPA and green chemistry

The choice of Liveris could also cause complications for the Trump administration due to Dow Chemical's aggressive sustainability initiatives, at least one of which involves an ongoing partnership with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Dow has been transitioning to more sustainable practices, and it assumed a leadership role in the EPA's Green Chemistry initiative. The initiative includes an awards element that provides Dow with a powerful branding angle. Last summer Dow earned its 10th Green Chemistry award, and the company used the occasion to talk up the EPA and the green chemistry trend:

"For the past 20 years, the EPA has presented 104 awards to researchers and businesses that incorporate the principles of green chemistry into chemical design, manufacture, and use," Dow said in a statement. "By recognizing groundbreaking scientific solutions to real-world environmental problems, the Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge has significantly reduced the hazards associated with designing, manufacturing, and using chemicals."

Other examples of Dow's sustainability commitments include a partnership with the Nature Conservancy and participation in a municipal plastics-to-energy project.

On a broader level, the company's razor sharp focus on science and technology could lead to some awkward moments with Trump and his supporters, who have regularly attacked science and scientists.

The Smart Cities Council

Another complication is Dow Chemical's involvement with the Smart Cities initiative launched by the Obama administration in 2015.

Last September, the White House doubled the number of participating communities and pumped another $80 million into the program -- which is aimed at accelerating innovative solutions to address climate change, income inequality and public health.

In its own press release, Dow Chemical highlighted its involvement in the initiative, noting that the Obama administration "recognizes the company’s contributions to five select cities looking to accelerate urban livability, workability and sustainability."

Dow's corporate vice president and chief sustainability officer emphasized the science-based approach:

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About a 90-minute drive south of Tel Aviv, Israel, and a short drive from Beersheba, the Negev Desert’s largest urban center, is Kibbutz Hatzerim.

This 70-year-old collective community, one of the many kibbutzim that launched across Israel during the 20th century, was for decades the typical farming commune. It long offered Jewish settlers the chance to build a life in their new homeland while minimizing the financial risks that long confronted farmers in this harsh environment. Like many kibbutzim, life in Hatzerim and the Negev was challenging and often frustrating.

But an engineer who had moved to Palestine from Poland became intrigued at the sight of a huge tree in the middle of the desert that thrived with no obvious water source nearby. Realizing that a slow yet steady water supply could lead to spectacular growth in trees and plants, Simcha Blass strived to apply such an idea to farming. He founded Netafim in 1965, scoring investment from Kibbutz Hatzerim.

Not only did Kibbutz Hatzerim’s support of Netafim help transform more kibbutzim from reliance on agriculture to diversification in sectors such as manufacturing, but Netafim’s drip irrigation systems would also evolutionize agriculture in Israel and eventually throughout much of the world.

Today the company is a $1 billion powerhouse, with 17 manufacturing plants providing water-efficient irrigation products for 2 million customers in over 110 nations. The company makes money from the world’s largest agriculture firms that spend millions on sophisticated drip irrigation systems that run on software; but Netafim also has a successful business selling low-tech, gravity-powered watering systems in developing countries.

Netafim’s headquarters are now in Tel Aviv, but the company still maintains operations in Kibbutz Hatzerim, a bustling community now home to over 900 people. TriplePundit visited Netafim’s offices in Kibbutz Hatzerim to learn more about the company’s vision for the future.

It is clear that Netafim is still successful, half a century after its founding. But as Netafim’s chief sustainability officer, Naty Barak, explained to 3p and other journalists visiting the company and the kibbutz's grounds, there is still much growth potential for Netafim (as well as its competitors in the water technology space).

After all, while only 20 percent of the world’s arable land is irrigated, that land grows a significant amount of the world’s food. And of all the land globally that is irrigated, only 4 percent uses more efficient drip systems. Flood irrigation is still the rule in much of the world. The way much of the world waters its crops is not sustainable, as an increased population will continue to demand more of what Barak described as farming’s four F’s: food, fodder, fiber and (bio)fuel.

For Barak, who has worked with Netafim since 1975 and lived at Kibbutz Hatzerim since 1964, the answer to this question is obvious: “Don’t buy cotton from firms that don’t use drip irrigation,” he deadpanned. Of course, the same could be be said for other crops that drive the world’s economy.

Drip irrigation has certainly worked in Israel, where now around 75 percent of the country’s farms use some form of this technology. At first, drip irrigation was seen as a way to boost Israel’s resilience. But Netafim’s executives soon realized that these more efficient watering systems could also help save the world.

Drip irrigation is not only a huge water saver, but it can also help reduce the use of agrochemicals and decrease greenhouse gas emissions (as studies have suggested reservoirs are huge emitters of gases such as methane). Smarter irrigation can also boost crop yields and improve the consistency and quality of crops. Barak showed us copious amounts of evidence that found drip irrigation can double the yield of crops as diverse as tomatoes, strawberries and bitter melon (or karela).

But drip systems can also revolutionize the growing of crops such as rice: a staple on which much of the globe lives, but has a huge environmental impact as it is cultivated by flood irrigation. The way rice has been grown for centuries makes for great photo shots, but contributes to a dubious future as more of the world edges closer to water scarcity. Netafim and its research partners have suggested smarter watering systems can also boost rice yields; the company has launched projects worldwide, from India to California.

Kibbutz Hatzerim, naturally, is profiting handsomely from having Netafim as part of its portfolio, which includes a 400-hectare jojoba farm watered by drip irrigation in order to produce an oil long coveted by cosmetics and personal care companies. What was once sprawling, desolate landscape is now slathered in rows of these olive-hued shrubs, all pruned into geometric shapes that make the maintenance of its underground drip systems easy to monitor and maintain. And that water is reclaimed from the kibbutz’s drainage systems, while pulp left over after processing is used to line cow sheds – and that material eventually becomes fertilizer for the jojoba shrubs, inching the community close to a zero-waste system.

Netafim still faces plenty of challenges. The world’s poorer farmers have limited resources, though government loans and microfinance programs help make these systems affordable for families and still profitable for Netafim. Governments in wealthier societies are loathe to impose regulations on a constituency that often resists change – though a solid demonstration on how these systems can result in a healthy ROI can convince growers to change their ways.

The bottom line is that a company founded in part to ensure Israel’s independence and self sufficiency in an oft-hostile Middle East has now become an important tool in the kit that society needs if we are truly going to feed a planet home to 9 billion people by mid-century.

Image credits: Leon Kaye

Editor's note: Vibe Israel is funding Leon Kaye’s trip. Neither the author nor TriplePundit were required to write about the experience.

Editor's Note: This post originally appeared on Unreasonable.is.

By Brittany Lane

Digital literacy is the 21st-century layer to the essential human capability of communication. It’s defined as the ability to use digital technology, communication tools, or networks to locate, evaluate, use, and create information. This could mean anything from knowing how to send a text, search for information, download and interpret that information, or how to connect with people on social networks.

In the early 2000s, Charlie Beuthin developed an interest in the rapidly growing digital world. Splitting his time as a DJ and a product-marketing manager for major record companies in the U.K., he saw how quickly the developed markets adopted and commercialized technology — especially the mobile phone.

When he was offered a position as Head of Music at MTV Africa, he traveled the continent and saw firsthand the state of the digital landscape.

“Despite how excited everyone was about how amazing the mobile phone and smartphone were going to be for Africa,” recalls Beuthin. “There was this massive divide of what was being said in the press versus what the average person was saying.”

Something we take for granted in developed countries — free Wi-Fi connections and unlimited data on our smartphones — is highly inaccessible for most people around the world.

Despite 540 million smartphones and mobile internet penetration of 37 percent expected by 2020 in sub-Saharan Africa, the main barrier to connectivity is expensive data costs. Availability of mobile technology grows, yet most people still can’t use the internet due to prohibitive prices set by mobile network oligopolies.

Frustrated by high data costs coupled with the slow download speeds for those who could afford it, Beuthin wanted to create an environment of free and fast digital access — especially for people just starting to access mobile internet and develop their own digital literacy skills.

“It feels like there is a lot of complacency in mobile networks, caused by the oligopoly they hold on digital connectivity in emerging markets,” says Beuthin. “The people who could arguably benefit the most from mobile technologies like VoIP are often charged the most. That’s hugely uncompetitive and unfair. If you’re going to be in a position of responsibility, then be responsible.”

In 2013, he co-founded Eduze, a digital content startup that aims to provide all Africans with equal access to reliable, relevant, and inspiring content that is both entertaining and educational.

Eduze developed a micro-infrastructure device called CLOX, or Cloud in a Box, that allows users to browse, stream, and download digital content to a mobile device for free. According to Eduze, it takes less than five minutes to download a movie and 10 seconds for a song. An individual CLOX device doesn’t need 3G, ADSL or even main electricity to work, yet it can connect 30 concurrent users to DVD quality video streams that have no buffering and no data cost.

The team at Eduze installs the boxes in a variety of public and private places, including buses, taxis, clinics, schools, and corporate offices. Then, the team focuses on their expertise: curating content. They scour sources like TED, Khan Academy, National Geographic, the BBC, and hundreds of local independent providers to find the most relevant videos, books, podcasts, music, and more.

“We are definitely about curating content for an African audience, which is what many corporations don’t get right,” says Beuthin. “There’s typically not enough cultural sensitivity to what’s needed or wanted.”

For schools, Eduze compiles content to complement the curriculum — a large curated digital library of videos, e-books, podcasts and apps available at high speed and uncapped for the teachers and students.

When most schools receive materials from one publisher, Eduze exposes students to a wider variety that enhances their educational experience — covering topics like entrepreneurship, career guidance, and positive role models. With companies, Eduze takes existing training or educational content, makes it more engaging, dynamic, and accessible, and tracks it to see what’s really resonating with employees and customers.

The idea, according to Beuthin, is “to create these hyper-relevant content libraries for each brand that really do resonate with their employees and customers.” To him, what matters most is creating accessible, meaningful e-learning experiences for everyone, from blue-collar factory worker, to high school student, to long-distance bus traveller.

This idea resonated so strongly with TED, an organization focused on spreading ideas that matter around the world, that it decided to make Eduze its first-ever venture capital investment.

Current trials of Eduze’s CLOX average 60 users per day per device, with an average time spent over 25 minutes — enough to suggest the potential for massive scale via this new model of digital connectivity.

In the short-term, according to Beuthin, Eduze’s goal is to continue getting more boxes into more locations and increasing the number of users. But his vision is bigger than that.

“I believe we can create contextual, digital experiences that are truly embedded in the community they serve to educate, inform, and entertain,” says Beuthin. “This is a bottom-up approach to digital content and all the LOLs and educational benefits it brings.”

Images courtesy of Eduze

Brittany is the editor of UNREASONABLE.is for Unreasonable Group. She believes lasting social and environmental change happens at the intersection of entrepreneurship and empathy.

When Symantec's Cecily Joseph and I conceived this series last summer, we were riding high on optimism. While police violence against people of color was not slowing down, it -- and the implicit bias it represented -- were reaching mainstream consciousness in a way we'd never seen before.

We saw this series as an opportunity to boost that signal to the business community and give corporate social responsibility (CSR) directors the tools to effectively support their staff through a difficult time and challenge implicit bias in the workplace.

Our intent with our series -- Black Lives Matter and Beyond: Corporate Leaders Respond -- was to help business leaders become more comfortable talking about race, social inequality, and implicit bias at work -- and to support them in creating more inclusive environments.

We delivered in that regard with an examination of where the fear comes from, specific tips for how companies can be allies on race issues, a Twitter chat on the topic, a call-to-action to reach true diversity in five years, and a look at public policies that can drive inclusion and some that hold it back.

We strived to showcase leaders in the space and found that even companies that send press releases touting their diversity were uncomfortable being interviewed about it. This is a shame and speaks to the work we have left to do. For it's only when we're comfortable naming implicit bias that we can counteract it.

I remain immensely grateful to Cecily Joseph and the team at Symantec for underwriting this series. Their support showed courage and a willingness to learn that every organization should aim to replicate.

On this side of the November presidential election, it is clear we have a long road ahead. We should be concerned that the social and environmental safety net that was slowly built during the Obama administration is much more vulnerable now than it once seemed.

That means the responsibility for furthering a just society will fall more heavily on the shoulders of business leaders and, really, everyone reading this article. We must take special efforts to improve our local communities and our workforces.

As Martin Luther King Jr. is oft-quoted as saying: "The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice." We should all strive to meet the high standards he set for us and to pursue social justice when it's easy, but also when it appears most difficult, like it may seem now.

Moving on to 2017, I plan to focus on concrete areas where I can make a difference. And I encourage you, your CSR teams and your companies to do the same. Here are some ideas I plan to implement:

• Get local: Engage in local politics; serve on committees; support local candidates; volunteer! Companies can support these efforts by giving employees time off to volunteer for local causes and by donating to local organizations. I'd be remiss if I didn't plug my absolute favorite local action. I've chosen to volunteer as a Court-Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) for foster children in my community. I represent two sisters, and my job is to be their voice during their journey through the slow and sometimes maddening foster care system. By giving my community's most vulnerable citizens a voice during what may be the darkest hours of their lives, I'm investing in my community's present and future. Every county in the U.S. has a CASA program, and anyone can be a CASA. This type of local, tangible action is a wonderful counterpoint to my day job at TriplePundit, where our work can feel abstract at times.


• Speak up about racism: Speak up loudly about implicit violence, and other such problems when you see them occurring, especially at work. Be an ally to those who may not have the social capital to risk speaking up themselves


• Create inclusive policies at work: As we know, diversity breeds resilient organizations


• Talk about race, even if it's uncomfortable! Don't be afraid to be wrong. Don't be afraid to learn.


• Support inclusive hiring practices: Pretty much self-explanatory.

What will you do? Tell us about it in the comments section and on social media using the hashtag #BLMandBeyond.

Image credit: Pexels