Social change happens when a conversation takes hold and captures the attention of people. Throughout the history of the social change movement, usually only a small minority of people end up creating the biggest shifts and change the course of history.

 

Marianne started her talk (in San Francisco on September 22nd) by sharing examples of big change by groups that started out small but then grew to become mainstream. For example, only a minority of people wanted to break from England and create a new republic; only a minority of women fought for the right to vote. These two issues were easy to make fun of, at first. As time went on and progress was made, people saw that these issues and changes as self evident: of course it makes sense to create the United States; and of course it makes sense that women have the right to vote. She stated, "It's never the status quo who wakes up and says, "let's do something differently." It always has to do with a relatively small group of people, usually considered outrageous radicals."

 

I think that in certain parts of the world, many of us sitting in the room would be considered "outrageous radicals" because of how deeply we care about changing the planet's current course. In the future, perhaps this "outrageous radicalism" will become self-evident to all.

 

Marianne compared the recent increased focus on sustainability and the goal of EcoTuesday as a social change movement (thank you!) by describing the impact that minority groups have on creating shifts in culture. "Whenever you take a certain impulse, and you have a lot of people at one time, the news media says that this is a big deal. But what's a much bigger deal is that there are a few people doing here, doing it there, and if you counted up all the people doing it everywhere, you'd see what a tremendous impulse you have."

 

She described the urgency that humanity must take to change our current trajectory. "It can be argued that our species now demonstrates patterns of behavior that make us less adaptable for the survival of the species...there's a limit past which you can't treat the earth this way. As we go toward the direction of a non-sustainable future, the level of human suffering involved in that scenario is so immense, it's almost beyond conception."

 

She urged everyone in the room to embrace their own "Personal Armageddon" that relates to sustainability and use their own positive forces of good to battle the less positive forces that might harm people and the planet. Participants stayed longer at this event than at any others in the past. Marianne was gracious enough to talk to all those who stood in line to speak with her.

Marianne ended the presentation with a prayer, which was an EcoTuesday first.

 

For those of you who missed John Viera, Director of Sustainability for Ford Motor Company, you missed a great discussion. John provided an engaging overview of sustainability efforts at Ford. Ford made a commitment to being a corporate leader in sustainability a number of years ago, and much of that commitment is starting to pay off. John mentioned that there were at least three areas that Ford maintains on sustainability efforts: product, manufacturing, and social responsibility. 

  While much focus is placed on all three areas, if there is any one area where more current resources are being placed its in their products. For example, Ford is creating multiple fuel and energy platform by readying various operations throughout the world. Rather than second guess the most viable source of fuel or energy in the future, Ford has a cross-platform strategy will allow the automaker to make relativity quick adjustments to vehicle manufacturing. As a result of this sort of plug and play approach, Ford anticipates it will be ready to leverage the right vehicle fuel and energy sources when and where they are needed in the future. Of course Ford products are designed with other positive sustainable features in mind. Fuel economy is among these – and the company continues to find ways to provide best-in-class fuel economy without sacrificing comfort and performance. Ford sustainability efforts also permeate many other facets of their operations from vehicle materials acquisition and disposal, plant operations, waste management, energy conservation and much more.   For more information about Ford’s blueprint for sustainability, check out the following link:   http://www.ford.com/about-ford/company-information/corporate-sustainability

Our September speaker, Ahmed Rahim, the CEO of Numi Tea, was fantastic. He discussed his thoughts on how companies can work closely with everyone on their supply chain to ensure that all aspects are chosen consciously. He shared stories about his trips to China to learn about tea and to truly get to know the farmers that grow the Numi tea leaves.