Welcome to the latest update of what's new at Natural Logic.

What a year it's been! Tsunamis and hurricanes and earthquakes, met with both the best of human response -- outpourings of compassion and generosity -- and the worst -- cascading system failure, compassion fatigue and neglect. War and terror and the rise of the "global guerilla." Continued "linguistic detoxification" (Barry Commoner's delicious phrase for "let's call it OK instead of make it OK" environmental policies) from the current US government. Major commitments to ecologically sound development in China. The shift of US environmental policy leadership from Washington to cities across the country. (Our long time client Berkeley CA placed third in the first sustainable city rankings released at World Environment Day this year, just behind more amply resourced San Francisco and Portland. See below for details.)

And JPMorganChase, General Electric, Sun Microsystems, and even WalMart have joined the ranks of BP and others seeking to claim corporate eco-leadership. Does it go beyond lip service? That remains to be seen, of course, but it's a telling sign that WalMart CEO Lee Scott isn't just talking about "greening" his stores. Here's what he said in Forbes: "There will be a day of reckoning for retailers. If somebody wakes up and finds out that children that are down the river from that factory where you save three cents a foot in the cost of garden hose are developing cancers at a significant rates -- so that the American public can save three cents a foot -- those things won't be tolerated, and they shouldn't be tolerated." Whatever you think about WalMart's social footprint, that's one thoughtful CEO.

It tells us that the work we've been pioneering -- for six years here at Natural Logic, for 30+ years for me, since my days at Bucky Fuller's World Game and co-founding Institute for Local Self-Reliance -- is taking root and bearing fruit. Yes, there's still a long way to go, but let's acknowledge that we've made significant progress. Renewable energy, carbon trading, organic food, cultural creatives, all on the rise. The demand for sustainability services is up, client expectations are more demanding and far more sophisticated than ever.

And yet...

The best still isn't good enough

And yet, even the very best companies, with the most inspired sustainability initiatives, aren't rising to the planetary challenge and the business opportunity it contains.

When I addressed San Francisco's Commonwealth Club (the nation's largest public affairs society) this spring, speaking about "Risk, Fiduciary Responsibility, and the Laws of Nature," I offered that assessment and challenge, and suggested that Boards of Directors, CEOs, and CFOs -- not environmentalists -- should be leading the sustainability revolution.

Not that environmentalists aren't important -- they provide critical market drivers as well as political pressure that impact corporate behavior. But the leverage, the capital spending commitments, the infrastructure investments -- and the consolidated support or opposition for political initiatives -- live in the boardroom and the executive suite. And the view from on high is changing, as a new understanding of risk and reward takes root.

This is an issue we're increasingly engaging with our clients -- how the risk and opportunity landscape for business is changing -- at the intersection of business strategy and rapidly shifting global environmental and market expectations.

What we're doing about it

Wall Street Journal features Natural Logic OpEd

Working with clients who are ready to lead

Which is why we've taken to asking our more sophisticated clients: "What are you really here to do?" "As a company?" they'll ask. "As a manager? A parent? A voter?" "Yes," we'll respond. And it then gets very interesting -- and very powerful -- as the truth-telling begins.... and a powerful design conversation takes root.

That's where the real work of sustainability takes place. Not in the technology -- that's the easy part -- but in the conversations between people about their aspirations, their commitments and their promise to turn those into effective actions and consistent results that design their future worlds.

The specifics of that deep client work are not, as you'd imagine, something we can discuss in detail in a public forum. But we can share some of our other recent engagements -- focused on putting that sort of clarity into practice:

Rating Sustainable Business. (How good is yours?) We (StopWaste.Org, GreenBiz.com, Natural Logic, What's Working and SeaChange) have completed the initial 18 month design and development cycle for the Sustainable Business Rating System (discussed in our last newsletter). We're adding a national non-profit partner to complement our local government incubator, and we're raising funds to further develop and pilot the system -- including an extensive stakeholder feedback process -- over the coming year. Watch for news about how you can participate in the stakeholder process; and please contact us (at "rating at natlogic dot com") if you'd like to help fund the system's development.

Benchmarking Industry Performance The Washington State Department of Ecology has engaged Natural Logic to benchmark the performance of pulp and paper mills. With the power of Business Metabolics, our web-based key performance indicator (KPI) system, and the collaboration of the Ceres Facility Reporting Project, we'll provide a graphic comparison of resource productivity at different mills, and explore potential approaches to more streamlined, performance-based regulatory regimes.

Streamlining "Environmental Management Information Systems" Natural Logic is advising a large pharmaceutical company on the development of its next generation environmental management information system (EMIS) -- evolving from largely manually managed, spreadsheet based systems to live dashboards, tailored to management needs as well as regulatory requirements. We anticipate that labor savings will more than pay for the cost of new systems; performance gains will be gravy.

Taking Sustainable Cities to the Top Our long standing work with the City of Berkeley continues to raise the bar on effective civic action. Backed by a 9-0 City Council endorsement of the city's draft "sustainable business action plan," we've teamed with David Johnston of Boulder's What's Working -- progenitors of the noted green building programs in Boulder, Austin and Alameda County CA -- to help this passionate and innovative city and university improve traction through effective collaboration (not just endless dialog). It's exciting to see Berkeley begin to fulfill the potential we envisioned 30 years ago at ILSR. (Not content with Berkeley's current rating, Mayor Tom Bates is aiming the city at the number one slot. The challenge: at least six other cities -- that we know of -- are aimed there as well! "Gentlemen, start your engines.")

Phase Two of our Albuquerque project -- based on the findings of the Regional Metabolism / Sustainable Resource Analysis we completed earlier this year with our partner EECOM, Inc. -- is about to begin, with the determined backing of recently re-elected Mayor Martin Chavez. The scope is broad and sweeping. We're also helping the city of Tempe, Arizona, design and build a LEED™ "Silver" Transit Center, working with our friends at Otak; our role: LEED coordination, project integration, and raising that bar. And we're helping the City of Palo Alto develop its Zero Waste strategy (this work in collaboration with Gary Liss and Associates.)

Greening Big Government Teaming with LMI, Sustainability Associates and Sylvatica Institute, we're helping the U.S. government's General Services Administration (GSA) -- probably the largest purchaser in the world -- develop its "sustainable enterprise" strategy and develop a robust, transparent and useful reporting system -- both for its mandated external reports to Congress and their equally important internal management systems.

Bringing Innovation to the Production Line Natural Logic, jointly with Beyond Compliance LLC and the EnviroSystems Group, developed the first sustainability training for managers at Toyota/General Motors joint venture NUMMI. Several dozen managers put their legendary problem solving skills to work in a new context, to identify and plan tens of thousands of dollars of savings in the first session alone. Next steps: broader training at NUMMI, and working with the local community college to bring these training to other regional manufacturers.

Finding "Fish You Can Trust" Natural Logic advises sustainable seafood broker CleanFish Inc on its increasingly robust sustainable seafood standards -- standards that have enabled CleanFish to find what may be the world's only sustainably farmed salmon, and bring it to market in the US. Tasty!

Also food related: we're working with Sustainable Ventures to produce Our Daily Bread: What Does it Really Cost, a design competition to get at the whole systems cost of -- a loaf of bread! The goal: to incentivize the next generation of economists -- with a $10,000 prize -- to think more comprehensively, and more realistically, about the real costs and benefits of what we value.

Preventing "Waste"We continue our multi-year work, in partnership with BVA and StopWaste.Org, to profitably prevent waste at dozens of Alameda County CA companies. This year's accomplishments include process improvements at steel foundries that diverted kilotons of "waste" from landfills.

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The pattern that connects our work to yours

Natural Logic helps companies and communities prosper -- by embedding the laws of nature at the heart of enterprise. Our tools and advisory services -- spanning Strategy & Management, Design & Innovation, Operations & Efficiency, and Metrics & Reporting -- propel our clients to build profit, competitive advantage and quality of life through exceptional environmental performance.

Our focus: Compelling goals. Measures that matter. Metabolic economics. Effective implementation. Profitable results.

Our mentor: Nature itself. Earth's living systems have nearly four billion year experience developing efficient, adaptive, resilient, sustainable systems. Why reinvent the wheel, when the R&D has already been done?

Our promise: Sustainable performance you can take to the bank.™

Our purpose: "A world that works for 100% of humanity in the shortest possible time through spontaneous cooperation without ecological offense or the disadvantage of anyone." (Thanks, Bucky!)

What we're saying about "natural logic"

In addition to the Commonwealth Club gig noted above, other stops on the speaking circuit recently have included keynote addresses at the San Francisco Green Festival, Coop America Business Network, Bay Area Green Business Program, and presentations at EnvironDesign 9, World Environment Day, LexThink!, the National Environmental Performance Summit, and the Western Regional Pollution Prevention Network. David Jaber spoke about "Performance Metrics and Evaluation" at the National Environmental Performance Summit, and to the Sierra Business Council, on "Sustainable Business--Making It Real."

Upcoming events

Upcoming events include the AHC Group in Phoenix in January, and keynoting the Solar Cities Conference in Oxford, England in April. We're in the process of lining up other dates for speeches, workshops and executive briefings while I'm in Europe; please contact me if you'd like to bring us to your company or agency, or if you'd like to suggest a venue.

Recent publications

Need a holiday gift for the executive who has everything? Our Declaration of Leadership poster is an evocative rendition of what "sustainable business" might be like if we didn't hold back. You can download a PDF (at no charge) or purchase the full color, 11x17 poster (on heavy, 100% recycled New Leaf paper, of course.)

Recent topics of New Bottom Line -- my monthly perspectives on business and environment -- have included: Sustainable products, sustainable companies; Eye of the Beholder; Urban Futures: A Tale of New Cities; Avoiding the Next Train Wreck; Social Investment, Social Capital and Social Action; and Real Time Regulation - A New Business and Policy Frontier.

NBL is distributed by opt-in email subscription; subscribe here, or read it on line on the Natural Logic web site, or at GreenBiz.com (where we also host the monthly "Ask the Experts" feature). Check out my more-or-less biweekly article for the "Sustainability Sundays" section of the outstanding WorldChanging.com web site. You'll find shorter and more frequent musings on my weblog. And watch for news of my forthcoming book!

People

Alums & Newbies

Associate Eric Olson has gone on to head the consulting practice at Business for Social Responsibility. Jeff Caton now leads the sustainability group at Cameron-Cole, while Mindy Kramer has founded Women’s Global Green Action Network. We wish them all success, impact and fun (one of our core values) in these new endeavors.

Marilyn Wien, Amory Lovins' former executive assistant at the Rocky Mountain Institute, has joined our staff as my executive assistant -- lucky dog that I am -- but has needed to go on personal leave for family reasons, so we have regretfully re-opened the position. Christine Arena, Gautam Barua, Suzanne Biegel and Suzanne Marquis are our newest Associates; read their bios here.

We're grateful, as always, for the help of a terrific crew of interns, including AJ Hutchins, Chris Lewis, Matt Sieving, Craig Madsen, Ruth Protpakorn-- working on Sectoral Throughput Analysis -- plus Robyn Hossel and UC Berkeley Students for Responsible Business -- working on market analysis. My apologies to anyone we've forgotten. You'll find internship information here.

Allies

Natural Logic has always - by design - maintained a small core staff and a powerful network of associates and allies. This assures us of the flexibility to field a world class team on any engagement we undertake. Our newest allies: Avastone Consulting; Bell + Associates Business Design for Innovation, Dissero Partners; What's Working (Details here.) And stay tuned for news of the Integral Sustainability Group.

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Staying in touch

Please contact us at any time -- to share your experience and your challenges, and to explore how we can serve your company or community. (+1-510-248-4940, or "office at natlogic dot com")

We can respond to you fastest when you provide a descriptive subject line in your emails; but try the phone if our email response isn't fast enough.

Till we meet again -- happy holidays!
Gil Friend, and all of us at Natural Logic