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Kathryn A Cooper 

 Thought of the Day

 

If the realist sees the obstacles on the path and the idealist sees the beauty in the distance, both would be well served to travel together. 

(From: Simon Sinek, Author of "Start with Why")

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upcomincoursesUpcoming SLC Courses & E-Learning 

Green Team GAP Assessment Workshop (ON-LINE). Starts September 11, 2013.  

Reconceiving Conservation - Webinar 2 (Free), Sept. 18, 1:15 pm EST.

Sustainability Toolkit Webinar.  Sept. 26, 2013, 12 noon.

Green/Sustainability Project Management (ON-Line). Starts October 9, 2013.

Sustainable Procurement I: A Procurement Approach to Building a Sustainable Supply Chain Oct.10, 2013  Toronto 

Getting Ready for G4 (under GRI) Webinar, October 16, 2013, 12 noon. 

Life Cycle Assessment for Marketing & Communicators, Nov. 20, 2013.

Life Cycle Assessment for Project Managers and Product Designers, Nov. 20 & 21, 2013.

Employee Engagement for Sustainability (ON Demand - available now)

Greenhouse Gas Measurement & Reporting (ON-Demand - available now)

Facilitating Transformational Change for Sustainability I (ON Demand - available Now)

Facilitating Transformational Change for Sustainability II (ON Demand - available now)greenprojmgmt

  
 

Developing Green Habits for Sustainability (available now On-Demand)

Integrating ISO 26000 (Social Responsibility) into your Management Systems (available now On Demand)   

The Natural Step

 sus101Sustainability 101

"I came away challenged and inspired. Challenged to hold myself to a higher standard and inspired to change the world." Suanne deBoer

 

Green Education On-Line

E- Learning Platform

 

Pathway to Sustainability Strategy

 

Intro to Energy Planning

 

Waste Management Concepts (7 Modules)

 

Green Cleaning Practices

 

Water Conservation (4 Modules) 

 

Sustainable Supply Chains (4 Modules)

 

Sustainable Purchasing Practices

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Upcoming Partner Programs
    
 
  
Waste Auditor Training and Certification. Recyling Council of Ontario, Sept. 17, 2013.
  

 

Free Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) and Human Rights. CBSR.  Sept. 25th Webinar & In Person (Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto & Montreal).
  
ES&G Accountability Forum 2013. October 8, 2013. Calgary.
  
McDonald's: The Trend Towards Transparency and Authenticity. Oct. 9, 2013. Toronto. Toronto Sustainability Speakers' Series.
  
  
Level 1 Sustainability Course: Foundations in Strategy, TNS. Oct. 9 (Ottawa), Oct. 17 (Edmonton), Oct. 30 (Vancouver)

 

Transformational Company: Supply Chain and Industry Engagement. CBSR. October 11, 2013 Webinar and In Person (Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto & Montreal).

 

Is Corporate Canada Ready for the Green Economy? ACCA.October 16, 2013. Calgary. 
 
   

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ENGAGE: Employee Engagement for Sustainability
(On Demand)
  
Understand the research and science behind successful principles and practices for employee engagement for sustainability. 
  
For more information.   
EmployeeEngagementOverview
EmployeeEngagementOverview
Certificate in Corporate Social Responsibility

 

U of T CSR Certificate
New Intake of this CSR Program Starts Now

Participants will learn to:

  • APPRECIATE the complexity of CSR
  • CONSIDER the evolution of CSR from margin to mainstream
  • ARTICULATE an understanding of CSR
  • INTEGRATE CSR into strategic planning
  • ACQUIRE skills and techniques for leading organizational change
  • BECOME part of a community of ongoing learning

For More Information 

 

This Certificate in Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is the first of its kind and most widely recognized program in Canada.

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The Sustainability Learning Centre is a learning & networking hub for sustainability.
Ask us about Customized In House Training & Green Team University Certification
 
Green Team University
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Greetings!   

 

Partnering with others is as much as art as it is a science. I am learning this through the Net Zero City Guelph initiative.  Our collaboration among 3 utilities, the City of Guelph and 6 NGOs held the kick off of its Change Lab, with Reos Partners, this summer.  Together, we are planning to shift residents and businesses toward net zero resource impact. That is a pretty tall order. Aspirational for sure.

 

How do you Sustain Effective Multi-Stakeholder Collaborations? 

So learning how to "Sustain Effective Multi-Stakeholder Collaboration and Partnerships", a topic at the upcoming Canadian Business For Social Responsibility Summit, Nov. 6, 2013, Toronto is of genuine interest to me.

 

In next week's newsletter I will be sharing insights from CBSR Summit speaker

Partnerships
CBSR Summit tackles how to Sustain Effective Multi-Stakeholder Collaboration and Partnerships. It is not as easy as it looks.

Nicholas Luff.  Nicholas will be sharing partnering frameworks like the one pictured here. 

 

But before getting to the mechanics of sustaining collaborations; he says that the principles of partnership: equity, transparency and mutual benefit must first be in place because they lead to respect, trust and sustainability - the secret sauce to system shifting. 

 

There is an authenticity to this process that we may need to practice.  You are either "all in" or "all out".  And I am not sure this is something we are accustomed to when it comes to business partnerships.

 

Stay tuned for Nicholas' insights and checkout the CBSR Summit, where there will be presentations, panel discussions and facilitated dialogue on: How to Sustain Effective Multi-Stakeholder Collaboration and Partnerships.

 

Kathryn 

 

Kathryn A. Cooper 

President & Chief Learning Officer 

Sustainability Learning Centre 

In This Issue:
ENGAGE: Employee Engagement for Sustainability
Certificate in Corporate Social Responsibility
INSPIRE: Nature Conservancy of Canada (featured video)
LEARN: Reconceiving Conservation
IMPLEMENT: Sustainability Toolkit Webinar
Green/Sustainable Project Management (Early Discount Deadline Se. 18, save $ 100)
Sustainable Procurement I (Early Registration Deadline Se. 19, save $100)
WEBINAR: Getting Ready for G4 - GRI's latest version unveiled
PARTNER PROGRAM: Sustainability Practitioner Course
FEATURED RESEARCH: Arctic is Screaming: A Trillion Dollar Problem
Life Cycle Assessment
LAST CHANCE STARTS WEDNESDAY: Developing Green Plans
UPCOMING TRAINING
INSPIRE: Nature Conservancy of Canada
(featured video)
Take a 3 minute coffee break and enjoy the largest private conservation project ever in Atlantic Canada.
Tusket River Headwaters Nature Reserve
Tusket River Headwaters Nature Reserve
Good Work Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC) - this is a beautiful legacy to leave our children.
LEARN: Reconceiving Conservation (ON-Line Course) 
conservation
Register now for the ON Line Course and check out the Free Preview Webinar

 

When: Starts October 16, 2013

Where: ON-Line

 

ON Line Course Answers Difficult Questions

 

But webinars don't give us enough time to really address these questions and develop a strategy for our organization, community or country.  So Ed Quevedo will be doing a 4-part ON-Line Course starting October 16th

 

He will be addressing difficult questions like:

  1. How can we understand and use the conservation ethic to drive personal and cultural behavior change toward sustainable development?
  2. How did conservation become burdened with connotations of limits and inhibition of action, rather than abundance and transformational bounty?
  3. How can we have got so wrong the relationship among ecosystems, economics, and community development, and how can we set this straight?
  4. How can we grasp the enormity of the refashioning of the entire material economy, and how can community development be a tool in that refashioning?

     

    Reconceiving Conservation Overview - in 10 minutes - gain critical insights on how to take a new look at sustainability and the conservation ethic.
    Reconceiving Conservation Overview - in 10 minutes - gain critical insights on how to take a new look at sustainability and the conservation ethic.

Check out this overview video of Webinar 1, join us for Webinar 2 and sign up for Reconceiving Conservation the ON-Line Course that starts Oct. 16th.  Join us in re-engineering our thinking to reconceive conservation.

 

To view the entire video of Webinar 1

To register for Webinar 2

For More Information or Register for the Reconceiving Conservation Course beginning October 16.

IMPLEMENT: Sustainability Toolkit Webinar
Sustainabilitytoolkit2
Learn how to use the Sustainability Toolkit for implementation of your sustainability plan.

 

When: September 26, 2013, 12 noon EST

Where: ON-Line

 

The Sustainability Toolkit was developed to address a critical gap in the evolving field of sustainability and corporate social responsibility.

 

Various organizations have developed guidance documents that define social responsibility (e.g. ISO 26000) or describe how sustainability efforts should be reported (e.g. Global Reporting Initiative).

However, there has been a lack of available guidance on how to actually implement sustainability in an organization.

 

Designed to Meet ISO 26000 & GRI 

The toolkit has been designed to fill this sustainability implementation gap by combining the principles and core considerations of ISO 26000 with the framework defined by leading management system standards such as ISO 14001 and OHSAS 18001. Given its management system foundation, the toolkit provides a practical approach to sustainability implementation that is applicable to all sizes of organizations across industry sectors. 

 

For More Information or to Register

Green/Sustainability Project Management (ON-Line)

PMI
Green/Sustainable Project Management New Dates

 

 

Starts: Oct.9, 2013
Location: On-Line
Early registration Deadline: September 18,2013
 

If you are a Sustainability Project Manager or Project Manager in a company with a sustainability strategy, this program is for you.

Professionally develop your sustainability and project management skills, enhance your career flexibility, and improve your Project Management competency.Testimonials

 

Join Nike, National Resource Council of Canada and others at this course! 

 

For More Information or to Register   

 

Read Rich and Dave's latest blog post: The Other Side of the Rainbow (integrating green/sustainability into your projects).

sustainable Purchasing II
Receive a customizable sustainable purchasing manual.
Sustainable Procurement I:
A Procurement Approach to Building a Sustainable Supply Chain  
  
Date: October 10, 2013  Location: Toronto 
Early Registration Deadline: September 19, 2013 (save $ 100)
  
The practical and hands on design of this program provides attendees with the knowledge and experience needed to lead or support a sustainable procurement initiative.

 

The step by step process used turns what can seem like a daunting task into bite size, manageable chunks. Supporting tools and resources that aid in the development of such a program are provided as part of the course material. 

 

For More Information or to Register 

Getting Ready for G4 -  GRI's latest version unveiled - Webinar

 

When: October 16, 2013, 12 noon - 1pm EST

Early Registration Ends: Oct. 2, 2013

 

 In this webinar you will learn to:  

  • Differentiate G4 from G3/3.1 requirements
  • Understand the implications for your organization of reporting in accordance with G4
  • Assess your readiness to report to G4
  • Think strategically about reporting and prioritize your reporting improvements

For More Information or to Register

 

Accountability Project
Brought to you by - The Accountability Project

 

Sustainability Practitioner Course (4 Day)

 

The Accountability Project recently announced the dates for their four-day Sustainability Practitioner Course.  It covers the essential topics for sustainability/CSR managers and professionals.  You can take the whole course or any of its four modules:

  1. Standards & frameworks - key sustainability concepts and global standards
  2. Stakeholder engagement - the who, what, why and how of engagement
  3. Reporting & assurance - G3, G4, integrated reporting and other developments
  4. NEW Integration & embedding - how to build in sustainability and make it work

All modules are interactive, rich in examples, and delivered by TAP's experienced trainers. 

 

For those of you who really like to roll up your sleeves, our five-day Sustainability Master Course adds an important hands on element.  It includes all the modules in the four-day course plus a NEW Case Study that will challenge you to apply your learning from the previous four days. Participants will work in teams on a real world challenge from a case study organization.  They will present to a panel of judges and get valuable feedback. Our first case study organization, for our Calgary course, will be Cenovus Energy

  

Registration is now open for Calgary (Nov. 4-8, 2013), Vancouver (Dec. 2-6, 2013), and Toronto (April 7-11, 2014).

 

For more information or to register (tell them you heard about it from the Sustainability Learning Centre!)

The Arctic is Screaming: A Trillion Dollar Problem

What we don't notice can hurt us according to this research from the Network for Business Sustainability.

 

It seems we are good at monitoring our immediate environment: competitive activity, consumer demographics, employee culture. When our world is stable, we don't need to expand our focus.

 

But shifts in stability often begin with weak, almost invisible, cues -

Network for Business Sustainability
Research suggests climate change is an economic time-bomb.

indications that are easily overlooked. This explains why most people missed the signs of the impending market collapse and recession of 2008.

 

What's more, our observations - our "sensemaking processes" - tend to reinforce our existing worldviews. That's why experts like Karl Weick advise us to pay close attention to surprises, and to stories from experts on the front-line.

 

According to this article the melting of the ice in the Arctic can bring prosperity (perhaps a $100 million investment) but also a $60 trillion dollar problem.  If we don't want to be caught by a catastropic surprise, we need to pay attention to things that don't necessarily jive with our world-view. 
  
  
Phases of Life Cycle Assessment
Life Cycle Assessment for Products, Processes and Services (for LCA Project Managers, Engineers & Designers)
  
When: November 20 & 21, 2013  Where: Toronto
Early Registration Deadline: September 28, 2013 (save $ 200)  
  
Life Cycle Assessment for Marketing & Communications
 
When: November 20, 2013
Where: Toronto
Early Registration Deadline: September 28, 2013 (save $ 200)  
Greengapassessmentlast chance Green Team GAP Assessment Workshop (ON-LINE) 

 

When:
Green Plan
Develop a Green Plan with your Team and conduct a Materiality Test to determine priorities.
Sept. 11 - Oct. 2, 2013

Where: On-Line

Early Registration Discount:

  

 

Launch your Green Team efforts or revitalize it through this program.

 

Assemble your Green Team for this Lunch & Learn workshop on "greening up" your facility.

  • complete a 51 point checklist
  • conduct a Materiality Test to determine priorities
  • develop a short term and long term plan
  • learn tips for engaging staff in implementation
  • access resources to measure savings

 This program is also available for customized, in-house delivery. 
 

For More Information or to Register

Upcoming Sustainability Training
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Check out our listing of upcoming courses click above.