Five years ago doesn't seem like much time, but when it comes to the business community's embrace of “green” practices, the change between 2008 and 2013 is night and day.
In those five years, the Carlsbad Chamber of Commerce's Sustainability Committee has been a trailblazing group, working as a resource for businesses that want to learn how to adopt more environmentally friendly practices.
Since its inception in 2008, the committee has created a comprehensive checklist that allows businesses to earn a Green Certificate by greening their business; brought world-renowned environmental leaders to speak about emerging environmental issues at their monthly meetings and launched the Business is Green! Expo, which is celebrating its fifth year from 2-6:30 p.m. on Thursday, March 14 at the Carlsbad by The Sea Resort & Conference Center, 850-890 Palomar Airport Road in Carlsbad.
Paul Thompson was chairman of the Chamber's board of directors when he and other board members decided that they wanted to create a new group to tackle sustainability in business.
“Before that, the Chamber paid little or no attention to anything that had to do with corporate responsibility or anything green,” Thompson said. “It was not part of the agenda.”
Thompson, who was once executive director of the Callaway Golf Company Foundation, said he knew first-hand from that experience that companies could benefit greatly from adopting sustainable practices, improving the first bottom line (the company's profits) as well as the so-called “second and third bottom lines” of making positive changes for the environment and having a social impact.
One of the committee's first projects was the Green Certificate, which is a thorough document that highlights both minor and major steps that companies can do to reduce their environmental footprint. They wanted it to be a tool that could help businesses to adopt real sustainable practices, not just “using green in word and not deed.”
They found early on that what they were doing and the information they were collecting was not easy to come by, that in fact, the Sustainability Committee was creating a blueprint that others would eventually follow.
“In general, Chambers of Commerce tended to ignore this issue, and the Carlsbad Chamber of Commerce was perceived to be quite trendy and in fact led many of its peers with its focus on sustainability,” Thompson said.
Ross Fields, the committee's current chairman, said he was a relatively new Chamber member when he heard of the new committee. He volunteered to be the secretary at the first meeting and since that time has been an officer in the committee.
He said that after the checklist the committee turned its attention to the business expo, the annual bus tour in November, and to recruiting speakers for its monthly meetings to educate its members.
“At first, we were really inventing the wheel,” Field said. “Fast forward five years later, and now there's a number of chambers doing this and many have adopted our checklist to make it available to its members.
Fields said the Expo continues to grow, and has become a unique event in North County.
The Expo showcases the latest in environmentally-friendly products and services offered by some of its members. The cost is $5 at the door, but you can get in free by wearing a green article of clothing. A Green Mixer will take place from 5 to 6:30 p.m.
Those who attend the expo can also get rid of their used household batteries at an onsite collection. The event will also feature a green car show.
New this year is a panel on making money by adopting green practices that includes economist and sustainability columnist Bill Roth (author of “The Secret Green Sauce”), Douglas Kot, executive director of the San Diego Green Building Council and San Diego County Planning Commissioner Peder Norby. That panel will be from 4-5 p.m.
The Business is Green Expo! is sponsored by the Carlsbad by the Sea Resort and SDG&E.
For more information, visit carlsbad.org.
In those five years, the Carlsbad Chamber of Commerce's Sustainability Committee has been a trailblazing group, working as a resource for businesses that want to learn how to adopt more environmentally friendly practices.
Since its inception in 2008, the committee has created a comprehensive checklist that allows businesses to earn a Green Certificate by greening their business; brought world-renowned environmental leaders to speak about emerging environmental issues at their monthly meetings and launched the Business is Green! Expo, which is celebrating its fifth year from 2-6:30 p.m. on Thursday, March 14 at the Carlsbad by The Sea Resort & Conference Center, 850-890 Palomar Airport Road in Carlsbad.
Paul Thompson was chairman of the Chamber's board of directors when he and other board members decided that they wanted to create a new group to tackle sustainability in business.
“Before that, the Chamber paid little or no attention to anything that had to do with corporate responsibility or anything green,” Thompson said. “It was not part of the agenda.”
Thompson, who was once executive director of the Callaway Golf Company Foundation, said he knew first-hand from that experience that companies could benefit greatly from adopting sustainable practices, improving the first bottom line (the company's profits) as well as the so-called “second and third bottom lines” of making positive changes for the environment and having a social impact.
One of the committee's first projects was the Green Certificate, which is a thorough document that highlights both minor and major steps that companies can do to reduce their environmental footprint. They wanted it to be a tool that could help businesses to adopt real sustainable practices, not just “using green in word and not deed.”
They found early on that what they were doing and the information they were collecting was not easy to come by, that in fact, the Sustainability Committee was creating a blueprint that others would eventually follow.
“In general, Chambers of Commerce tended to ignore this issue, and the Carlsbad Chamber of Commerce was perceived to be quite trendy and in fact led many of its peers with its focus on sustainability,” Thompson said.
Ross Fields, the committee's current chairman, said he was a relatively new Chamber member when he heard of the new committee. He volunteered to be the secretary at the first meeting and since that time has been an officer in the committee.
He said that after the checklist the committee turned its attention to the business expo, the annual bus tour in November, and to recruiting speakers for its monthly meetings to educate its members.
“At first, we were really inventing the wheel,” Field said. “Fast forward five years later, and now there's a number of chambers doing this and many have adopted our checklist to make it available to its members.
Fields said the Expo continues to grow, and has become a unique event in North County.
The Expo showcases the latest in environmentally-friendly products and services offered by some of its members. The cost is $5 at the door, but you can get in free by wearing a green article of clothing. A Green Mixer will take place from 5 to 6:30 p.m.
Those who attend the expo can also get rid of their used household batteries at an onsite collection. The event will also feature a green car show.
New this year is a panel on making money by adopting green practices that includes economist and sustainability columnist Bill Roth (author of “The Secret Green Sauce”), Douglas Kot, executive director of the San Diego Green Building Council and San Diego County Planning Commissioner Peder Norby. That panel will be from 4-5 p.m.
The Business is Green Expo! is sponsored by the Carlsbad by the Sea Resort and SDG&E.
For more information, visit carlsbad.org.