It's time for EcoTuesday again!

Our mission has always been to bring those in EcoTuesday cities great events wherein they leave feeling inspired to share what they've learned with other people in their lives. We have our incredible speakers to thank for such amazing content over the past few years. They've all brought their sharp expertise, entertaining anecdotes, and personal stories to share with all participants. 

This month is no different! Here's a quick snapshot of what we have in store for you tonight:

•  Cleveland: Timothy Madden from Biodynamicz and Monica Cowan from Hy-Hopes for Hunger will talk about how they work together to create a truly sustainable region.

•  Dallas: Learn all about sustainable animal health and nutrition from Green Pet owner Leslie McKay.

•  Denver: James Shaffer from Streetscapes will discuss how to "improve walking, talking, and chewing gum at the same time."

•  San Francisco: Learn to get that you matter, and bring this into your conscious business with Erin Ross.

• Silicon Valley: Matt Wynkoop from World Centric will  help make  sense between biodegradable and compostable packaging.

See you tonight! You can see a list of all events HERE.

I've taken a few weeks off from working on the day-to-day aspects of EcoTuesday to focus on a few other sustainability-related tasks. In the meantime, we've had a few shifts in some of our EcoTuesday cities that I thought I'd share with everyone. These shifts include Ambassadors stepping down due to moves, babies, and startups, and other individuals coming into fill their roles or even start new EcoTuesday cities all together!

I'd like to thank the following Ambassadors for all of their efforts in creating great EcoTuesday events in their cities. We wish you the best!

• Carol Guy from Minneapolis is having a baby in September!   She will have her hands full with motherhood. We wish her well in her journey of motherhood.
• Jina Penn-Tracy from Minneapolis will be taking her talents and passion to Denver!  Have fun and hopefully you can attend an EcoTuesday there.
• Jesse Martinez from San Francisco will spending his time and energy on his new start-ups which are very exciting to see progress.

The profiles of all the new Ambassadors are below. Please take a moment to check them out and be sure to attend your local EcoTuesday event to meet them in person!

Jordan Bellinghausen – Dallas

As part of the Recycle Revolution's Growth and Development team, I reach out to North Texas businesses and communities and work with them to create, implement, and develop sustainable recycling/waste management programs. I also manage Recycle Revolutions social media, including our Facebook, Twitter, and Linkedin accounts.

Maria Lott – Dallas

Born and lived in the Philippines for twelve years, and then immigrated to the United States. Texas has been my home for nearly forty-two years now.  I am married and our two children are twenty-nine and twenty-five years old.  I have thirty years of teaching experience behind me.  My son and I are the owners of Recycle Revolution, and have passionately worked for this rewarding business for the last three years. 

Michael Scott – Denver

Michael is the President of Career Velocity, LLC a Denver-based firm dedicated to helping individuals bridge the gap between meaningful work and economic success. In this capacity Michael has a special interest in the role of green jobs in creating a sustainable economy. Michael has a Bachelor of Arts degree from The Ohio State University and a Master of Public Administration  from the University of San Francisco.  He is a member of Alpha Kappa Psi business fraternity and the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce.

Sherri Mitchell – Denver

I live in the Denver Metro Area and work in the General Counsel's Office at First Data Corporation as a Compliance Manager.  I am currently working on my Ph.D. in Public Policy and Administration with an emphasis in Law and Public Policy.  I am planning to write my dissertation on financial literacy in high schools with the goal of developing a tool to help schools with retention and graduation rates through the use of sustainable resources and development plans.  I love to travel, do yoga and spend time with my husband, Brett.

Eric Brown – San Francisco

I am the founder of Mindful Moon App - a positive reminder iPhone application. I've studied and practiced various alternative healing modalities and currently, I'm in the process of combining my interest of sustainability, health & wellness and technology into business.

Ivette Torres – San Francisco

Ivette Torres is a recent GreenMBA graduate from Dominican University, the first MBA program in the U.S. with a focus in sustainability. Born and raised in the Bay Area she enjoys hiking, kayaking, and trying new and diverse foods.  She received her undergraduate degree in Mass Communications from the University of California, Berkeley.

Fenja Blobel – Silicon Valley

Fenja holds a BS in Business Administration with a concentration in Marketing and a minor in Environmental Analysis and Policy from Boston University. While at BU, Fenja built an Excel VBA metric model to assess a household's environmental impact with data collected from a self-developed comprehensive questionnaire. In May 2008, she received her LEED AP. Growing up in Germany and California influenced her understanding of how different cultures, habits, and norms can affect people's behavior towards the environment. Most recently, she lived an enlightening year in Tokyo, where she entrenched herself in Japan's sustainability industry.

Kirsten Flynn – Silicon Valley

A lifelong environmentalist, I am owner of Sustainable Home, an interior design firm specializing in healthy and green materials.  We work primarily with residential projects, in the San Francisco Peninsula area.   I am proud of my involvement in the Solar Decathlon entry from Santa Clara University. It included local, sustainable and beautiful materials. I have design degrees from Syracuse University and Canada College, am a LEED GA, Certified Green Building Professional, and professional member of USGBC, ADPSR and Coop America.

All of the Ambassador profiles can be seen on the Ambassador tab.

At the July EcoTuesday gathering in San Francisco, Sue Amar, Sustainability Officer at salesforce.com, referenced what Malcolm Gladwell calls the "law of the few" (aka the 80/20 principle), according to which 20% of the people will bring about 80% of the changes in the world. She's a prime example of this herself, having single-handedly started a robust sustainability program at salesforce.com.

While many companies have recently embraced sustainability, Sue explained how salesforce.com, with their commitment to the cloud, goes beyond the usual efforts to green the supply chain, travel, facilities, and other such areas. But beware: You may think you're already using the cloud, but not all clouds are created equal! The salesforce.com sustainability site delineates the differences:

• On-premises cloud: Onsite hardware and software that must be bought, installed, and maintained.
• Private (or "false") cloud: A cloud that's housed in a data center, uses virtualization technology, or is hosted -- and still requires hardware and software that must be bought, installed, and maintained.
• 100% cloud: A cloud that uses "multitenant architecture" to allow sharing and economies of scale -- using a small number of servers that are optimized to do as much as possible. This cloud has the benefit of being 64% more efficient than the private cloud and 95% more efficient than an on-premises cloud.

This kind of focus has made salesforce.com a leader in sustainability among high-tech companies. Their commitment to sustainability has been solidified and advanced by one employee, Sue, who started their sustainability program as a volunteer (in addition to doing her regular job) and now leads the effort full-time.

EcoTuesday itself is another excellent example of the power of one or two people. Just a few years ago, the organization didn't exist, and now, thanks to its two founders, Nikki Pava and Oren Jaffe, it's spread to cities throughout the U.S and is providing a wonderful and inspiring venue to learn about what people like Sue Amar are doing.

This latest EcoTuesday gathering has inspired me to look into how I can help promote sustainability at my own workplace. Although Adobe is already strong in this area, I know there's always more that can be done.

Every EcoTuesday evening I've attended has been similarly inspiring. I've met others working on sustainability and learned about all kinds of green resources and ideas.

Over a year ago, Erica Mackie spoke at EcoTuesday about GRID Alternatives, a local nonprofit she co-founded that provides solar to low-income families. Since then, I've volunteered at their Solarthon and convinced my employer to sponsor them. Not only that -- a good friend of mine learned about the organization from me and is now working for them. If I hadn't heard about GRID at EcoTuesday, perhaps she wouldn't have thought to apply for the job, and they'd be out a great employee. But wait -- there's more! GRID was started by just two people who wanted to make a difference and saw a need that they could fill. They started small, but 10 years later, they're growing by leaps and bounds. They've installed solar systems for over 1,000 families, preventing over 100,000 tons of greenhouse gas emissions.

I'm participating in the Solarthon again this year and encourage you to sign up, too! If you can't participate but still want to help, here's a good way to get a bang for your buck and for one person (you!) to do a lot. By sponsoring me, you can help empower low-income families while also helping improve the environment, the economy, public health, and global politics -- which helps all of us!

All of this shows what the vision of a couple people can create. Though we all rely on others and we need to work together to achieve our sustainability goals, each one of us can do a lot. Any of us who worry that we can't make a meaningful difference should look at what people like Nikki Pava, Erica Mackie, and Sue Amar have done. That should be enough to restore our faith in the power of one.

Two of the most important parts of sustainability is innovation and education. Innovation creates new markets and opportunities for individuals and companies to develop products that save resources and change our processes so that we are more productive and efficient. Education offers people the tools and resources needed to help contribute to the much-needed advances that are taking place within the business environment. To serve these advances, the GreenMBA has many innovative programs that greatly contribute to their students, alumni, and local communities.

The GreenMBA not only offers incredible support to students as they go through the curriculumn, but the program has also inspired a business incubator that supports entrepreneurs to get their companies off theground. The Venture Greenhouse (VG) houses up to 12 early-stage green businesses at a time, from a variety of industries. Companies that are a part of the incubator receive business coaching, legal assistance, technical support, and access to capital (and more). The goal is to accelerate the success of environmental and socially beneficial companies. These are all incredibly helpful services to an entrepreneur!

The Dominican University (the GreenMBA's "parent" organization) offers a Certificate in Sustainable Practices, which is perfect for a person who is unable to go through an entire two-year MBA program.  This is a new certification program is designed for those who would like to learn more about a specific area of sustainability. Students can take the course at their own pace, with the ideal completion time being 9-12 months. During this time, students attend 8 in-depth classes and complete a minimum of 40 hours of hands-on sustainability work.

The GreenMBA also partners with the Environmental Finance Center of Dominican University(EFC9), yet another innovative program that supports environmental protection through championing sustainable business models. EFC9 has a 3 pronged mission:

1. To encourage industry to implement sustainable and financially sound business practices, 
2. To educate and encourage consumers to choose green business products and services, and
3. To help communities and government promote sustainable business.

A joint project between the GreenMBA and ECF9 includes the "Tribal Green Economies Program" which helps tribes develop sustainable companies that support their communities, such as recycling, geotourism and renewable energy enterprises. The ECF9 also spearheads other projects that focus on the greening of personal products and developing a webinar series that educates SME's on climate change.

These are a handful of ways that the GreenMBA is "innovating" in the sustainable business world. The GreenMBA is much more than an "educational institution." It is a community that truly fosters growth and expansion for a student, on both a personal and professional level.