Local and/or Fair trade

For our first solution-based post this year we are going to look at how purchasing local and/or fair trade products is a way to be socially sustainable. We know that production of some common products is resulting in inequitable trading standards and environmental conditions, especially overseas in developing countries.  Remember that system condition 4 is about being socially responsible.  In addition, if products are both local and fair trade, then they help us reduce reliance on oil, which is a breach of system condition 1. To review the system conditions click here. 

Otago Polytechnic as part of our goals to improve sustainable and socially equitable practices, is working towards becoming a fair trade tertiary institution. You can read the guidelines here. Your workplace could become a fair trade business too.


Switching to local/fair trade products is easy as many products are readily available. Make changes where you can by enquiring if there are any fair trade options for the products you need to purchase. Even small changes will make a difference. You might start with products such as biscuits, sugar, coffee, tea and chocolate as well as cleaning agents, and even home cosmetics, shampoo, and soaps. 

Another thing to consider is if products are free from palm oil which is frequently harvested unsustainably from tropical forests, irreversibly damaging the environment and reducing habitats for many species of animals. Some palm oil is produced from sustainable sources so it is good to check before buying. 

Finally, are the products locally produced and are they environmentally safe? Keeping these questions in mind will help you to make better decisions about what products to buy.

Where can you get fair trade/local products?
OfficeMax, which is a common supplier of office products, have listings of fair trade tea, coffee, sugar and hot chocolate. Many of your local stores also stock fair trade products. Try asking your shopkeepers to stock more fair trade products and that may cause them to start changing as well. 

To find products that are Palm oil free review this link which is a list of palm free products compiled by the Auckland Zoo. 

To focus on supporting local businesses you could consider obtaining supplies from your local wholefoods supermarket where you can reduce packaging by refilling your shampoo bottles and containers for many household cleaners. Here are some links to these in the main centres: 
Dunedin - Taste Nature 
Christchurch - Piko Wholefoods 
Auckland - Huckleberry Farms, multiple locations 
This link will help lead you to suppliers in other locations 

How do I make this change as a junior staff member?
Talk to the person ordering - explain to them the rationale.  Most people want to do the right thing and if they can see a benefit to the bottom line, they will be even more influenced to make the change.

Does this have a marketing advantage?
Yes!  If your clients are aware you are trying to make a difference then they will want to support you over a neighbouring business who isn't.  Make the change, market it on your website, advertise it in your next newsletter and put a sign up in the waiting area.

Dont forget to let us know what you are doing in your business and what difference it is making!

Next week - We look at adhering to system condition 4 in reference to the veterinary nurse and technicians.  

Have a great week!

From baseline to vision - making a plan to get to the vision.

Hopefully you have followed through the blog posts so far this year and have seen that sustainability is not all about tree hugging. If we use some of the language introduced this year, we can demonstrate how change is good not only for the environment, but also for people and the bottom line (economics). 

The way that sustainability issues are presented also is important so that people don't turn off and become disinterested. These topics can be presented in such a way that it is hard not to become engaged.  

For instance, when we started our discussions here about sustainability, we looked first at the 9 fundamental human needs and explained why it is important and gave an example of how to meet our need for sustenance (food, water and shelter we needed a healthy environment). 

We then looked at drivers of change.   We know that there are significant changing issues that drive change like increasing fuel and power prices, reduced availability of fresh water and also specific industry things like staff turnover,  inequitable wages, pressure to maintain knowledge, and comparisons with human practice.  You can review two  drivers of change funnel diagrams in this past blog post.  

Have a go at doing one for your own workplace (or community). Start by presenting irrefutable drivers of change that affect the business and then work through how each of those things can be mitigated. For example, you might think about how the business can improve its bottom line, reduce its eco footprint or improve its social well being. Thinking this way will not only improve the business's sustainability outlook, but can also create excellent marketing angles which in turn can improve the financial bottom line.

We now know that the system conditions provide a definition of sustainability,  in other words, if we adhere to these conditions, then we will be acting in a sustainable manner.  To apply this to the veterinary industry, we imagined what a veterinary practice would look like if it met these 4 system conditions.  This image below is just an example to stimulate discussion.  You might have your own ideas of what an ideal practice might look like.   

Now that we know what a vision of the sustainable future looks like, we can also use the 4 system conditions to do an audit against our current position - to provide a baseline of where we are now in a given situation - work place, home.  You can look at an example audit of the system conditions against  generic vet clinic on this prezi on slides 3-7.  Remember not all of these situations may apply to your workplace or business, for you, there may also be additional considerations.  By doing this audit you can create a list of the issues that need addressing.

If you then map these specific conditions on a graph, you can see which actions will have the highest impact and indicate where it would be most important to make a change.  This helps to prioritise which areas to focus on first.  You can choose the top 5 actions (with the highest impact and highest importance), set time frames, and take action. Involve experts if you need advice on a specific area or need someone to drive this change. Once the business is convinced of the benefits, then re-evaluate at the end of the time period, re set goals and continue the cycle.  Market what changes you are making  - declare your goals to your clients and tell then what you have achieved. This will create a marketing advantage which in itself will have economic benefits.  Remember to communicate to business owners - you need to relate everything back to the financial bottom line. 

Next week we will start looking at some drivers for change for a veterinary business, how we are violating the system conditions and explore an approach to resolving this conflict. I won't have all the answers so this will require input and feedback!  

If you would like to suggest some specific topics to cover then email me and I will endeavour to cover these.  

Have a great week. 

A vision of a sustainable future

What does a sustainable society look like?
A sustainable society has certain characteristics:

If the 4 system conditions are adhered to, this is what a vision of a sustainable future might look like.  

In that sustainable vision:

• Everything we use would be cyclic, with zero waste.  
• All energy would be renewable clean energy (the diagram shows this as solar, but any renewable clean energy could be used.
• Everything we do would be safe - safe chemicals, safe working practices, safe environments for people to live in, safe both physically and emotionally.
• Our lifestyle would be social - showing care for the people.
• Products and services would be affordable, and financially sustainable.  
• We would be efficient - doing more work for for less energy - this is energy efficient as well as consuming fewer resources, less stress and so on.  

So what does a sustainable veterinary clinic look like? 
The following image is not meant to depict exactly what a vision of a sustainable veterinary clinic is - its mean to be a conversation starter.  

This image shows a multifunctional facility including: veterinary clinic, groomers, doggy daycare, boarding facility for cats, dogs and small mammals and a cafe (which allows pets).  It also includes community facilities such as dog walking area, community garden, memorial garden and a meeting room that can be hired to community groups.  It is designed to be a community focus for the companion animal loving people in a given community.  

This vision is sustainable because it is:

• Cyclic - This facility produces zero waste.  
• Solar - power is provided by photovoltaic panels and wind power
• Safe - all chemicals are environmentally safe at all stages from production to disposal, the working practices also look after the safety of the employees.  Products are check to be sourced from sustainable sources for example paper, to avoid further degradation of the environment.  
• Social - this facility provides a family friendly work place, it is inclusive of all employees in decision making, all employees have the option to purchase shares, working hours are in place that suit individual requirements.  It provides spaces for staff, the clients and the community to meet formally (eg meeting room which is available for booking by staff, clients and the community as a whole) and informally (eg the cafe, community garden, dog exercise space and the memorial garden). Fairtrade products are used wherever possible.  
• Affordable - the multi use facility which incorporates several smaller businesses working together provides efficiencies in use of space, energy and sharing resources.  It also has the ability to draw in members of the community to spend more time at the facility so this contributes to them spending discretionary cash at the facility (eg coffee and dog treats) rather than at a megastore that is not owned locally.  These all help to reduce overheads and therefore reduce costs to clients.   
• Efficient - efficient use of space, sharing resources, renewable energy, working smarter (reduced working hours - for example 8.30 - 5.30 + one late night and a saturday morning once a month rather than 7am - 8pm Monday to Sunday as an extreme example but packing more in for example) allow the facility to function very efficiently.

How does this apply to your own life?
Have a go at creating your own vision for your own home, workplace, or community.  Once the vision is in place, it is easier to set achievable goals to attain it. 

Next week - how do we get to our vision from where we are now?  

Have a great week.

Why our focus on economics is flawed

A little bit of a side step from my plan for a blog today, which was looking at visions of a sustainable future.  The reason for that is that a student sent me a link and when I read it, it resonated with me a lot, especially with all the things going on in government that clearly show a disregard for the environment in preference for the finance system.  Please note that the commentary provided below is my own opinion.  

If you look at current things that are happening, it is clear that our governance system is using the "mickey mouse model" (right hand diagram below) for sustainability rather than the" strong sustainability" model (left hand diagram) which we have discussed in an earlier blog post.  The mickey mouse model focuses almost entirely on the economy and gives passing minimal acknowledgement to the environment and society. 

Image Source

Example of the mickey mouse model in action:  It is widely acknowledged that the expanding dairy industry is having a negative effect on waterways but the high economic value of the dairy industry is making the government reluctant to make the needed changes that will mitigate the problem. Case in point: a bill currently passing through parliament is proposing to maintaining water quality by restricting reservoirs to "secondary contact" levels (i.e. boats are safe, but swimming is not as it allows direct human contact with the water supply). This bill is still subject to change, and this is only part of the wider bill around environmental management. The article linked here highlights some of the concerns about the bill. 

The problem with this proposal is that by limiting reservoir access to secondary contact, it is enabling dairy farms to continue many of the current practices minimising the environmental benefits, and it is not acknowledging the societal benefits of allowing people access to enjoy the waterways even though primary contact has very low risk for the quality of the water distributed to our towns. 

My interpretation of this bill is that the government is avoiding allowing primary access to waterways as that would require major changes in current dairy farming practice and thus affecting our export earnings. They are opting for the better economic option at the expense of the environment and the people and in the process are disregarding:

1. peoples enjoyment of water
2. degradation of the water system and the ecosystem within waterways 
3. quality of our own drinking water
4. maintenance of the species that live in the water including native fish
5. quality and enjoyment of the sea water from waterway run off
6. quality of experience for tourists who come here to enjoy our environment
7. costs to the health system from illness that people contract from swimming in contaminated waters, eating produce grown with the water, or drinking water from the potentially contaminated waterways.

This bill is a very short sighted approach, because eventually environmental degradation will affect the farming and tourism industries and a negative economic effect will occur.  When that occurs, it will be hard to mitigate the vast environmental damage that has eventuated.  

If a system conditions approach to this problem was used, rather than just accepting lower standards for immediate economic gain, there would be a real opportunity to improve efficiencies in dairy farming (and other business practices) as well as to return our waterways to being healthy and thriving areas that are safe enjoyable for New Zealanders and tourists. 

Please note: while I highlight dairy farming in this example, it is obviously not the only contributor to the degradation of the environment/water quality.  We need to look at the bigger picture and use the four system conditions to help audit our current position and to guide improvements for the future. 

The above is just one example of the clear disregard for the environment and the bulk of the people, in the current system which favours economics regardless of anything else.  Another example that is currently gathering a movement of protest is the TPPA which threatens to undermine the people of New Zealand as well as the environment in favour of international corporates.  To read more about this click on this link.  

It is my opinion that we need to stand up and voice our concerns about the blatant disregard for the people and the environment in favour of an economic-centric system. If we don't have a healthy environment, we won't have healthy people and a healthy society, and without that economic sustainability will fail to exist.   

To read the blog that inspired this post click here.

Back to the planned post of creating a sustainable vision next week!

Have a great week.