We believe a sustainable world reflects these three interdependent principles

(adapted from the Mountain Equipment Co-op website)

• The planet has a limited carrying capacity and we are all dependent on a healthy, functioning biosphere.

• Individuals can best meet their needs in caring and vibrant communities.

• A just economy is dependent on an equitable society and a healthy planet.

We believe we have a responsibility to make the world a more sustainable place. We've defined our role as:

• Encouraging and supporting our customers to enjoy self-propelled wilderness recreation, lead healthy, active lives and be stewards of the natural environment.

• Promoting wilderness conservation and responsible use of the outdoors.

• Improving the social and environmental impacts of our products, services and business operations.

• Providing leadership in the community and working with others to pursue collective social and environmental goals.

What we are doing

Our commercial success is dependent on achieving positive social and environmental outcomes. With this in mind, we have developed a sustainability strategy to guide and continually improve our efforts in the areas of business operations, product sustainability, sustainable consumption, and our role in the community. We've made commitments in each of the following areas:

Business Operations Sustainability

• We will demonstrate sustainable business practices and lead by example, in particular with respect to energy, water, and material use.

• We will provide a safe and respectful workplace where our employees are highly valued, treated fairly and encouraged to make a difference.

Product Sustainability

• We will pursue design and product innovations to minimize or eliminate negative impacts and enhance positive impacts of our products and packaging.

• We will design our products to be durable, long-lasting and repairable.

• We will follow sourcing practices that ensure a safe and healthy workplace for the people who make our products, where human and civil rights are respected.

Sustainable Consumption

• We will promote conscious consumption by educating our customers to make well-informed decisions and we will provide them with products and services that contribute to a higher quality of life, and a healthier society and environment.

• We will provide our customers with alternatives to the consumption of new outdoor gear.

In the Community

• We will be an advocate in the community for issues that align with our beliefs and strategic priorities.

• We will nurture meaningful partnerships with non-profit and community-based organizations to protect and enhance the places where we work and play.

(For more information about Mountain Equipment Co-op, go to www.mec.ca.)

The Role of the Retailer

by Pride Scott Wright 

while the companies profiled in this journal are all on the manufacturing side, the vast majority of our readership will be retailers. Retailers have an indispensable role to play in terms of advancing the cause of sustainability. They function as both the industry’s interface with the community, and at least potentially, as the consumer conscience of the community. They are positioned to acquaint their customers with those companies doing good on behalf of people and planet, and also to buy conscientiously on behalf of the highest values held by their customers.

There are many retailers doing great work on behalf of the environment and their communities, but I don’t think any would be offended if we just declared Mountain Equipment Co-op (MEC) the gold standard. MEC is a ten-store Canadian chain.

The adjacent sidebar (adapted from the MEC website) could serve as an industry wide statement of values and purpose. Their green building story is utterly inspiring. And perhaps best of all, they are the un-Wal-Mart, endeavoring to use their buying power with high purpose.

We’ve all observed the way Wal-Mart’s relentless pursuit of rock bottom prices has had deleterious effects for both people and planet up and down the supply chain. This is the inevitable result of a reductionist, one dimensional approach to both value and wellbeing. To paraphrase Theodore Roszak from the forward to the classic book Small is Beautiful by E.F. Schumacher, “What sort of business is it that must, for the sake of market share, hope and pray that people will never be their better selves, but always be greedy social idiots with nothing finer to do than getting and spending, getting and spending?”  

MEC offers a classic example of the Wal-Mart ethos turned on its head. Instead of using their buying power to effectively drive down wages and environmental standards across the planet, they are actively engaged in both educating their customers on issues of sustainability and lifting the standards of all business partners. (Check out their Supplier Team Evaluation Process (STEP), not to mention their organic cotton initiative.) 

Every retailer has the opportunity to engage their customers on issues of sustainability (as well as local environmental and social issues, if desired), in a non-invasive way. The idea is to nurture an upward spiral of values that is good for the environment, good for your community, and what the hell, good for your store! One of the objectives of the Green Steps Association going forward is to develop a magazine similar in format and content to this one, but calibrated for a general readership. The magazine would be provided to interested retailers for free distribution to their customers. Values-oriented in-store signage can be a great tool for this purpose, and it’s our intention to invite companies within the industry to collaborate on materials of this nature. Events, from clean-up days to concerts to composting workshops, can also be a great opportunity to connect with the community and provide tools and resources.

As a retailer, perhaps your primary tool in terms of affecting change is your buying power. Wield those dollars with a dual purpose—both to meet the needs of your customers and to support the companies in the industry who are doing positive work on behalf of issues you care about. Communicate your specific concerns about issues that are important to you to the companies you work with. Another objective of the Green Steps Association is to establish a web forum where retailers can share information on companies with compelling enviro and social stories, as well as about what’s checkin’ at retail. (Look for this by Summer Market 2005.) It may not be feasible to change your vendor mix abruptly, so think in terms of gradually redistributing it to better reflect “values of sustainability” over time. The speed with which you can do this probably depends to a degree upon the composition of the community you serve, and each retailer will weight aesthetics, performance, price, and “sustainability” somewhat differently. It’s okay to start small! (The most important thing is to start now.)

For the retailer, the primary issues related specifically to energy, chemical and material inputs and outputs are relatively few and readily apparent. Here are a few simple things that can be done. Develop an energy conservation strategy. Buy renewable energy when it’s an option (go to www.greenmountain.com, or check with your power utility), and maybe even consider installing solar panels, if you have the right climate and the right exposure. Even if you’re not willing or able to use fluorescent bulbs to illuminate the sales floor, you probably have several bulbs in the bathrooms, back room, storage, and office that could be replaced with fluorescent. Use recycled shopping bags with the highest post consumer recycled content you can find, and then find ways to gently discourage their use. Reuse packing and shipping materials and recycle, including cardboard. If you share a building or a shopping center with other retailers, encourage them to work cooperatively with you to do the same. Your chemical use is probably limited, but consider replacing those conventional cleaning products with their counterparts from Seventh Generation, available at your local natural foods store. Seventh Generation also has you covered for recycled toilet paper (buck up, you get used to it) and trash bags. Need fixtures? There’s a company coming on line that will be producing a wide array of retail fixtures from sustainably harvested small diameter logs. (Stay posted.) Ready to replace a threadbare carpet? Consider bamboo or another highly renewable, long lasting option. Consolidating orders with a given vendor can often save cardboard and energy. Encourage employees to use public transportation, walk, or ride a bike to work, and do so yourself, if possible.

Sustainability is a gigantic topic, and we’ve obviously barely scratched the surface here. You no doubt have your own list of resource saving ideas, product tips, and modes of community service, so by all means, send them to info@greensteps.org. Hopefully this is just the beginning of a very long conversation.

CONTACT US

“What sort of business is it that must, for the sake of market share, hope and pray that people will never be their better selves, but always be greedy social idiots with nothing finer to do than getting and spending, getting and spending?”