SCN held on Wednesday, November 23 another insightful and engaging webinar with four Canadian entrepreneurs implementing circular economy practices in their businesses. Our four speakers shared with us their sustainability journey, successes and challenges. All four stories are greatly inspirational and we hope they spark more interest and action in circular economy practices and food security.

You can watch a recording of the webinar Food “Waste” as a Resource below.

Speakers’ Bios:

Jeremy Lang is the Founder and Vice President of Sustainability at Pela (pronounced Peel-Ah).  Pela is best known for their biodegradable phone cases and more recently, their countertop composter called Lomi. Pela makes everyday products without everyday waste to help educate and inspire a global community of people who are committed to making a positive impact on our planet. Pela is on a mission to eliminate 10 billion pounds of waste from the global waste stream, and continues to research and develop the most innovative products to create a waste-free future.
www.lomi.com

Sabrina Kon is the Head of Community & Impact at ChopValue, a company that engineers chopsticks into product and design solutions.  She oversees and is building the chopstick recycling program across different cities, actively engaging with a large community of restaurants, businesses and chains.  She also leads the sustainability reporting and develops the strategy and execution to grow ChopValue’s franchise locations. She holds an MSc in Environmental Technology from Imperial College London and is focused on advancing the circular economy.
www.chopvalue.com

Dihan Chandra is the Founder and Managing Director of The Spent Goods Company.  A visionary social entrepreneur, Dihan initiated his first venture in 2006 called Organic Lifestyle, dedicated to advocating non-toxic living with products like organic pillows and mattresses.  His eco-conscious mindset led him to explore climate change reduction solutions, founding The Spent Goods Company after discovering the environmental impact of diverting barley grains used to make beer from disposal and, instead, making new products like sourdoughs, pizzas, and bagels to feed people.  In just 5 years, Spent Goods has distributed over 146,000 loaves of bread, diverted tons of waste from landfills, offset 8.4 Metric Tons of CO2, and contributed to the creation of 6 local jobs.  Dihan and his team exemplify how sustainable solutions can drive positive change and economic growth.
www.spentgoods.ca

Tony Colley is the Founder/CEO of Be One to Give.  He is a sustainability and social justice advocate who developed the on-demand B2B delivery app of the same name, for food business operators along the supply chain.  Leveraging technology and logistics, the company delivers surplus ‘prepared’ food with a limited shelf life to food insecure communities within 2 hours of receipt. Tony aims to eliminate 100% of avoidable food waste in food business operators daily operations, by providing on-demand redistribution of healthy, nourishing meals to the estimated 6.7 million Canadians currently suffering from food insecurity.
www.b12give.ca

Thursday, November 23, 2023, 6 PM EST

Sustainability Consultant Network is pleased to invite you all to another exciting webinar this Fall!

Food waste is a growing problem in Canada – nearly 58% of food produced or 11 million tons are lost and wasted each year. This has negative environmental and social consequences. 

Join our coming webinar to learn how four enterprising Canadian companies address the food waste issue through sustainable solutions. Registration is free.

To register for the event, please visit:
https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/food-waste-as-a-resource-tickets-747410704537

On April 26th 2023, SCN hosted a webinar where experts discussed how to implement a sustainability model for island nations, based on the British Virgin Islands experience. Key members of the organization BVI Green presented and responded to audience questions on how to achieve sustainability goals in a small, relatively closed environment, as well as how those lessons could be applied in other communities. Webinar recording is below.

Presenters:
Corina Corea

Corina has extensive experience in waste management and project oversight with thirteen years tenure at the BVI Department of Waste Management. Corina is currently finishing up her Masters in Management and Leadership and has recently joined the Green VI team as the Materials Manager. Corina discusses her background and some of the issues facing waste management in the BVI and what Green VI is doing to address them?

Charlotte McDevitt

Charlotte came to the BVI in 2006. She arrived with broad experience in reducing waste, litter and illegal dumping from her work with the Waste Management Department in Cape Town, South Africa, and in 2008 earned a master’s degree based on her study of waste reduction and resource management in the BVI. Charlotte founded Green VI in 2009 and, since then, has devoted her time and expertise to establishing best practices in BVI waste/materials management and, through this challenging vocation, building a model system that other small-island states can adopt. Charlotte highlights the link between waste management and mosquito borne diseases and what is being done in the BVI. 

Mark Lichtenstein

Mark is the executive operating officer and chief sustainability officer at the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry (ESF). He is also a faculty associate in the Program for the Advancement of Research on Conflict and Collaboration at Syracuse University’s Maxwell School. Mark served eight terms as president and is an honorary lifetime board member of the National Recycling Coalition. Mark has led sustainability centers at Syracuse University and has been engaged with sustainability and recycling efforts throughout the US, and in Belize, Brazil, British and US Virgin Islands, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, and Puerto Rico. He discusses the value of the BVI model regionally and internationally as well as future plans.

Click below for a recording of the webinar.

On November 15, 2022, SCN hosted a webinar on the power of businesses to shape our collective future. Our four guest speakers shared their path to building a certified B Corporation™ and highlighted the importance of corporate responsibility in advancing society and supporting the environment.

You can watch a recording of the webinar below.

Tuesday, November 15, 2022 – 7-8PM ET

SCN is pleased to present another exciting webinar, focused on the power of businesses to positively shape our collective future. We invite you to join us on Tuesday, November 15, 2022, at 7 pm ET for a lively discussion with four experienced experts.

To register, please visit this link: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/441217572637

Speaker Bios

Warren Rangoonanan – WRD LLP

Warren is a corporate lawyer specializing in deals involving corporate social responsibility and triple-bottom line businesses.  He firmly believes that those kinds of business dealings can change capitalism and change the world.

Warren currently chairs the National Section on International Law of the Canadian Bar Association.  Warren has an Honours Bachelor of Commerce (Hons. B. Comm.) from McMaster University and a Bachelor of Laws (LL. B) from the University of Toronto.   

Aladdin Diakun – WRD LLP
Aladdin is a lawyer practicing in association with WRD LLP building a broad practice around business law and sustainability. Aladdin received his Juris Doctor from the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Law and was called to the Ontario bar in 2020.

Aladdin worked as a sole practitioner and sustainability consultant before joining forces with the sustainable business lawyers at WRD LLP.  Aladdin’s legal practice is enriched by his strong background in climate and sustainability.

Aladdin holds the FSA Credential from the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB FSA) and the Sustainability & Climate Risk Certificate from the Global Association of Risk Professionals (GARP SCR). He also holds a Master of Arts in Global Environmental Governance from the Balsillie School of International Affairs, where he was awarded a Junior Fellowship with the Centre for International Governance Innovation.

Outside of his legal practice, Aladdin volunteers as an organizer with Lawyers for Climate Justice, and as a Board Director with the circular economy non-profit Impact Zero.

Tanya Darisi – Co-Founder,Openly
Tanya is co-founder of Openly, a certified B-Corp company with the goal of fueling the hearts and work of a million changemakers by 2025. Tanya has more than20 years experience working across the private, public and nonprofit sectors, where her core areas of contribution have included strategy, program design, applied research and evaluation, and organizational development. 

For 10 years, she was Research Lead at Decision Partners, helping to build their mental models application in the fields of decision-making, strategic communication and risk management. From 2011 to 2015, she was Executive-in-Residence at Capacity Canada, where she shared her love of research and evaluation to help the nonprofit sector work with confidence and impact.

Tanya holds a Master’s Degree in Applied Social Psychology from the University of Guelph. She has a certificate in Impact Investing from Oxford – Saïd Business School and a Certificate of Law from Queen’s University.

Andrew Simpson – Ecotone Software Consulting
Andrew Simpson is a veteran software consultant and business analyst, and founder and CEO of Ecotone Software Consulting. He has implemented several leading ERP and CRM packages over his 25-year career, including J.D.Edwards, Microsoft Dynamics GP & CRM, and Salesforce. Andrew has extensive experience designing and mapping business processes, writing technical specifications for custom modifications, developing and executing test plans, report design, and data conversion.

Andrew has always been passionate about environmental issues, and Ecotone brings together his twin passions around technology and sustainability.

SUNDAY, Sept 18 2022, 2:00 PM – 3:30 PM EDT, Rain or shine

A walking tour of the Midtown Yonge Complete Street with Ward 12 Neighbourhood Climate Action Champion Alec Khachatryan

Location: Yorkminster Park, 1585 Yonge Street, Toronto, ON M4T 1Z9

In this one hour stroll down Yonge Street, you’ll learn about complete streets and how they are crucial in the fight against climate change, improving physical and mental health and building stronger communities by encouraging more active and sustainable modes of transportation in our urban centres.

After decades of car-oriented street planning, Canadian municipalities are increasingly adopting Complete Streets policies. Complete Streets are “designed to be safe for all users: people who walk, bicycle, take transit or drive, and people of varying ages and levels of ability”.

To register, please visit:
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/complete-streets-for-climate-health-and-community-benefits-tickets-417222944057

Written by Mark L. Takefman, Local Eco-Fanatic

In 1973, Arne Naess, a Norwegian philosopher published and delivered a lecture at the World Future Research Conference in which he spoke about the distinction between what is the “shallow” and “deep” approaches to environmentalism.

“So called corporate ‘shallow’ environmentalism, which dominates the mainstream, advocates continuous economic growth with environmental protection by means of technological innovation (such as catalytic converters) and scientific resource management (such as sustained yield forestry) and mild changes in lifestyle (such as recycling.) It avoids serious fundamental questions about our values and worldviews; it does not examine our sociocultural institutions and our personal lifestyles.  The mainstream technological approach has to be clearly distinguished from the deep ecology approach, which in contrast examines the roots of our environmental/social problems. The deep approach aims to achieve a fundamental ecological transformation of our sociocultural systems, collective actions and lifestyles.” (from Alan Drengson and Yuichi Inoue’s book “The Deep Ecology Movement”)

It’s unfortunate that the terms “shallow” and “deep” have been used, as they present us with the idea of opposition based in duality, when in fact these two ideas are on the same side of the fence, so to speak, and are descriptions of a developmental maturity.   When we first understand the importance of how we and the environment are inextricably interconnected, we begin to realize that we have to start making changes in our lifestyle that allow us to be more balanced and integrated with both the physical world about us but also with our own spiritual center.  Doing nothing of course, separates us from our world, establishing disharmony, anxiety and a variety of other neurosis’s.

So at first we seek out what is already being done.  We discover that there are many things already being done, like community recycling, and government legislation, and the Environmental Protection Agency, and the many thousands of environmental non-profit organizations and grass-roots groups. Next we begin to make some subtle changes in our lifestyles.  We begin to look at what we’re buying: What’s in those products?  What kinds of chemicals are going to hurt me?  And how do these chemicals hurt the environment? Are they over-packaged? These are the first simple steps, one of awareness.  The next ones are much more difficult.  The next question steps create a stew of cognitive dissonances in us that will make us very difficult to live with. What about:

Organic

Child labour

Avoidance behaviour  (our own)

Anyway and needless to say, I have taken a quieter approach with others when discussing the environment; a wait-and-listen-first approach before I lay into someone. (no not really) This listening approach has some interesting benefits. One of which is that I have observed, that for even those who have some understanding and belief of the deep approach to environmentalism, it (i.e.: their understanding and empathy) does not translate into lifestyle changes.  Could it be that either core beliefs are not motivational enough to change our behaviour, or that we can habituate to our own sense of hypocrisy?  You may want to argue that there are some other reasons here; go ahead.

About being Green (it’s not easy).  Well it’s just that the term really applies to those focused in the mainstream shallow ecology movement and I don’t feel I fit into that.  Not that I disagree with this work, it’s just that I never liked being pigeon-holed. (Have you ever spent time with pigeons?)

Mark Takefman is a Earth resident.  Works for himself, mostly stays out of trouble.  Knows a little about everything and a lot about nothing. Collects feathers.

www.takefman.com  

Sustainability Consultant Network in collaboration with Impact Net Zero held a webinar about actions all of us can take to make an impactful change in today’s world. Our speaker, Charles Lin, also shared his sustainable life journey and highlights of his professional career.

You can watch a recording of the webinar below:

Charles Lin is founder and lead of Impact Net Zero, an environmental grassroots initiative to educate, engage and empower Canadians on energy transition. In 2019, Charles was a Fellow of the Advanced Leadership Initiative of Harvard University. From 1979 to 2017, he was a professor at the University of Toronto and McGill University in Canada, and a senior manager in the Canadian federal government, Environment and Climate Change Canada, where he led research in weather, climate and air quality science. Charles holds a B.Sc. in Physics and Mathematics from the University of British Columbia and a Ph.D. in Meteorology from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He participated as member or lead of senior Canadian delegations to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), and published over 70 articles in refereed scientific journals in weather and climate science.

Sustainability Consultant Network invites you to the upcoming webinar on Net Zero Emissions and actions we can all take. The webinar is held on Tuesday, November 30th 2021 at 6.00PM ET.

Our speaker, Charles Lin is founder and lead of Impact Net Zero, an environmental grassroots initiative to educate, engage and empower Canadians on energy transition. In 2019, Charles was a Fellow of the Advanced Leadership Initiative of Harvard University. From 1979 to 2017, he was a professor at the University of Toronto and McGill University in Canada, and a senior manager in the Canadian federal government, Environment and Climate Change Canada, where he led research in weather, climate and air quality science. Charles holds a B.Sc. in Physics and Mathematics from the University of British Columbia and a Ph.D. in Meteorology from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He participated as member or lead of senior Canadian delegations to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), and published over 70 articles in refereed scientific journals in weather and climate science.

Join us on Tuesday, November 30th 2021 at 6.00PM ET.

For registration, please visit this link:
https://www.airmeet.com/e/e5d15120-3842-11ec-8b4f-53de423a6e96

SCN Team

During the Kitchen Table – Climate Conversation webinar, we discussed the impacts of climate change on food system in the Greater Toronto Area. The presentation was followed by engaging discussion, filled with many good ideas and comments.

Resources mentioned in our discussion:

https://www.soilbooster.ca
https://wastenotfarms.com/
http://www.feeditforward.ca
https://ronfinley.com/

Feel free to watch the webinar’s replay here:

And the presentation is available here:

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