All Blog Posts (98)

You know by now that I like to quote from Vision 2050: A new agenda for business.  If 30+ leaders, mostly from the C-suites of the world's largest companies, took the time to write it, I think it only right that I should take the time to read it.   

This week's quote is a nice support for our spotlighted story (our first "Conversation") on Innovation Alliances for the 21st…

At the SSV WEST Summit back in December, InnovatingSMART assisted Sustainable Silicon Valley in their collection and display of reflective and inspiring art pieces, underscoring the greater meaning and mission behind this intelligent and often exciting work.

At that time, we made several musical animations, developed through the creative tools at …

From our good friends at Sustainable Silicon Valley.

Hope to see you there!



Cheers, Sue



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Have you ever wondered how to get management, employees or citizens to fund or participate in sustainability programs? How do you sustain momentum once the luster of newness wears…

Among the many things I admire about Marianna Grossman, Executive Director of Sustainable Silicon Valley, is her flair for the artful and the true.  A favorite example can be found with this week's SSV event - Making the Case: A Story-Telling Workshop- to be held unapologetically on none other than April Fool's…

Over the weekend, while cleaning through some old files, I came across a 2005 essay by best-selling author Scott Berkun entitled "How to learn from your mistakes".   Therein, Scott outlined four categories of mistakes -- ranging from "stupid" to "complex". 

In reflecting on the mistakes that have led us down an unsustainable path, I find that they are actually not …

For too long we in the US have lived the delusions of exceptionalism.  Having dreamed from early on that it was our birthright, nay our DESTINY, to seize control over this continent from sea to shining sea, this inheritance of and heritage to the enlightenment rationality that located humanity (or more specifically White Anglo Men) as somehow separate from and hierarchically superior to Nature (and other Mothers, as well) has brought us to loggerheads…

You heard all about them from Deborah Hirsh of B-Labs.  Now -- come to hear from several business leaders who have incorporated their enterprises as B Corporations.  On March 21, join InnovatingSMART's host project,…

Radical change is clearly ahead.  In the words of a WBCSD task force comprised of the largest businesses in the world "Business-as-usual cannot get us to sustainability or secure economic and social prosperity. These can be achieved only through radical change, starting now."  They went on to articulate exactly what needs to change.  But the question that comes up again and again in…

Great title, isn't it?   This is the title on the email I received from Andy Billings, VP at Electronic Arts, and a manager of innovation and change who I admire.  Andy's full invitation can be found below.  Perhaps I'll see you there!



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From Andy:

Just a quick note on a one-day program that might be of…

While the "Three E's" of Equity-Economy-Environment** form the triangle that frames the terrain of the sustainability movment and of SMART innovation, another set of "Three E's" drives the InnovatingSMART project at this juncture.   The E's that define our challenge ahead:  Existence-Expansion-Excellence.

Existence.  Created from a simple idea and…

With your help, we can meet the three-part challenge of Existence-Expansion-Excellence.

Help us continue to Exist.

We have come this far through the generosity of unpaid interns, and the pro bono directorship of Sue Lebeck at Silicon Valley Innovation Associates.   To ensure that we can all continue to direct our time to the ongoing creation of InnovatingSMART, please sustain our team through your…

Join us in person as we hear the story of Shivani Ganguly and "WindowFarms".

SPECIAL EVENT:

On the evening of February 28th, InnovatingSMART's host project Sustainovation is presenting an intriguing event -- First in an anticipated series on Changing the World through Food.  …

We love our food, don't we?

As I write this at the top of the week, it is Valentine's Day and my husband, ever the chef, is gifting me this evening with an especially artful meal.  Here in San Francisco in 2011, his creative options reflect an embarrassment of riches -- sources both local and global, fresh and preserved, and in vast variety once unimaginable.

Through innovation in the business of food, we have achieved amazing advances, and nowhere is it…

As an Iowa girl who began her career at the University of Wisconsin, the Green Bay Packers were my first NFL home team.  I settled in to the 45th Super Bowl ready to let the Green and Gold make me proud.  After an impressive first-half Green Bay rally, followed by a comeback by the Pittsburg Steelers to make this the fight we expected to see, The Pack ultimately prevailed.  I was never so happy about a football game.

But even as Green was dominating on the field, "Green" was…

In times like these, when financial capital is often in short supply, we are reminded of the creative power of our social assets.

A few weeks ago, my husband and I were approached by an indepenent film-making duo who had at one time lived in the basement apartment of our historic Victorian home.  Delighted to make the connection, and impressed by their creative vision and gracious manner, we were thrilled to receive a request to film an important scene in our living room. …

This weekend at the CompostModern conference on sustainable design, I got to listen to many inspiring speakers.  Among them:  Jonah Sachs from Free Range Studios, the story-telling genius behind Annie Leonard's brilliant (though not uncontroversial) illustration of our prevailing linear consumption model.   If you haven't already, watch "The Story of Stuff", which you can find on…

Winter Bugs can be insight-giving things, if you let them.  Cleared of the pre-holiday variety, a new Bug has found me.  Annoyed and impatient with its earlier colleagues, I am listening at last. 

I find myself hyper-aware of the physical environment I take for granted.  My constant demand for clean clear air, my unexpected appreciation of warm honeyed water, my new-found need for hot steam, a deep hunger for fresh nutrient-rich food -- all have gotten my attention.  My…

The world seems to be moving faster than ever. Already nearly a decade into the new century our leaders seem either oblivious or willfully neglectful towards the need to address the realities of global warming and climate change.

With stymied and unproductive summits at Copenhagen (2009) and…