Climb The Green Ladder

January 29, 2010

New York book launch was a great success!

Posted by Shari Aaron under Books, Climb the Green Ladder, Environment, Event, Fun, Research, Sustainability, Work
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NYC launch event, 21 January

I am delighted to report that the NYC launch event, 21 of January, was very exciting and a tremendous success!

This event focused on how sustainability provides a leadership advantage for women. The conversation was led by senior level women who have made tremendous strides in spearheading effective sustainability programs. Speakers included (as pictured left to right), Eleni Reed, Director, Sustainability Strategies, Cushman & Wakefield, Inc., and me, Shari Aaron, Co-Author Climb the Green Ladder, Natalia Oberti Noguera, Executive Director of NY Women Social Entrepreneurs, Tensie Whelan, President, Rainforest Alliance and Maria Figueroa Kupcu, Director, Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability Practice, Brunswick Group.

According to Holly Perlowitz, a senior banking professional based in the New York area, “Gathering with Shari Aaron and other women focused on sustainability was inspiring and reminded me that grassroots efforts matter and committing oneself to carrying the message can start in our homes and our places of business – but it just has to start!”

A special thanks to Double Knot for hosting such a lively event!

Amy also enjoyed speaking at the These Young Minds conference on the 26th of January and got some great feedback from the organizers. Alim Abubakre, Founder, These Young Minds, offered these complimentary words: “Amy Fetzer, is an inspiring, remarkable and unparalleled speaker. Having a personality like Amy speak at an event is what any audience needs to be fulfilled.”

Amy also was welcomed into Commerical’s offices in the UK last week to do a workshop on sustainability. Simon Graham compliments included: “Amy’s work is inspirational. We had the privilege of her presenting one of our Green Ambassador seminars and she is as great a speaker as she is an author. The audience went away with a new vision and energised to do more to Climb the Green Ladder.”

We have such a great week talking about the book and getting people’s feedback. Many thanks to those who participated in our events and we look forward to seeing more of you at other events soon!

Shari

January 21, 2010

New York launch and helping Gloucestershire launch their 10:10 campaign

Posted by Amy Fetzer under Books, Climb the Green Ladder, Environment, Event, Fun, Life, Research, Survey, Sustainability, Work
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I’m super excited that Shari’s US launch for Climb the Green Ladder is happening in New York tonight. I’m so sad I won’t be able to be there, but flying over from London for the launch didn’t seem very sustainable. I can’t wait until there is a sustainable way to cross the ocean between us! (Check out, ‘Can aviation go green?’ for an interesting article on this topic).

Here in the UK, I’ve been busy helping Gloucestershire launch their 10:10 campaign.

This kicked off at the University of Gloucestershire yesterday morning.

Forum for the Future’s Jonathon Porritt, 10:10’s Eugenie Harvey, Gloucestershire Green Guru (and Climb the Green Ladder case study) Sarah Daly and I all gave talks. The crowd included the local mayor and other business leaders, and our talks explained why they should and could take on the challenge to reduce their emissions and impacts by 10% in 2010. To find out more, check out this an article on the event here.

Jonathon Porritt

The feedback from the event so far as been hugely positive so I’m reallylooking forward to getting updates as people start toreduce their impacts.

Next, I spent a really enjoyable afternoon hosting workshops on ways to win with sustainability for local businesses in the area, going first to Ecclesiastical Insurance Group and next on to Commercial.

Sarah Daly

Both companies have made great strides in making their operations more sustainable, but it was lovely to be told that they thought the Climb the Green Ladder toolkit would help them take things to the next level.

That’s all for now folks! And keep getting in touch to let us know how you’re getting on in making your workplace more sustainable!

Amy

January 12, 2010

LSE Lectures have a great spring line up

Posted by Amy Fetzer under Books, Climb the Green Ladder, Environment, Event, Fun, Life, Sustainability, Work
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LSE Sustainability in Practice lecture series continues

We were thrilled with the success of the Climb the Green Ladder lectures at the LSE in November and December. We felt very privileged to be the first two lectures in the LSE’s new Sustainability in Practice series.

This series continues this term, and the LSE Environment Team have organised a fantastic programme with speakers ranging from Jonathon Porritt to Ray Anderson and Andrew Simms.

Below is a list of the lectures.

Amy is going to many of them, so do drop her a line if you’d like to meet up to say hello afterwards.

All lectures are free and open to all, and start at 6.30pm.

14 January: ‘Positive Deviance: the only strategy left for sustainability leadership’ by Sara Parkin, Forum for the Future, at Hong Kong Theatre, Clement House.

21 January: ‘Time for a New Policy Paradigm: resources, technology and human well-being’ by Professor Sir David King, University of Oxford, at Sheik Zayed Theatre, New Academic Building.

28 January: ‘New Economics’ by Andrew Simms, New Economics Forum, at Hong Kong Theatre, Clement House.

2 February: ‘Delivering a Low Carbon London’ by Isabel Dedring, Environment Advisor to the Mayor of London, at Hong Kong Theatre, Clement House.

4 February: ‘Climate Crunch: making the economics fit the science’ by Jonathon Porritt, Forum for the Future, at Hong Kong Theatre, Clement House.

9 February: ‘Sustainable Housing: how can we save 80 percent of our energy use in existing homes?’ by Professor Anne Power, LSE Housing & Communities, at New Theatre, East Building.

18 February: !CANCELLED! ‘The Radical Industrialist’ by Ray Anderson, Interface, at New Theatre, East Building.

25 February: ‘Prosperity without Growth’ by Professor Tim Jackson, University of Surrey, at Sheik Zayed Theatre, New Academic Building.

4 March: ‘Education for Sustainable Development’ by Tony Juniper, Cambridge University Programme for Sustainable Leadership, at New Theatre, East Building.

11 March: ‘Sustainable Business Innovation’ by John Elkington, SustainAbility and Volan, at Hong Kong Theatre, Clement House.

For full lecture information click here: LSE Sustainability in Practice Events, or send an email to event@lse.ac.uk. N.B: The lecture by Ray Anderson on 18 February has been cancelled.

December 4, 2009

Great sales, and a second LSE lecture

Posted by Amy Fetzer under Books, Climb the Green Ladder, Environment, Fun, Life, Research, Sustainability, Work
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It’s been another exciting week for Climb the Green Ladder!

In good company in Waterstones' window

First, we were thrilled when our publisher, Wiley, told us that, despite being published for just two weeks, initial sales have been so good that they have ordered a second print run!

I was also excited to spot Climb the Green Ladder taking pride of place alongside SuperFreakonomics and Too Big to Fail in a central London Waterstones’ window display. We want to say a huge thank you to all of you who have bought the book, and please, keep your feedback coming in!

One company nearly cleaned out Wiley’s warehouse when they ordered a copy of the book for every single member of staff for Christmas. Other organisations have told us they are giving the book as a corporate gift, or that they’re interested in giving it out during green campaigns in the New Year. Do get in touch if these are ideas you’d be interested in too.

Amy Fetzer

We’ve also had hundreds of individuals sales from everyone from students and consultants to MDs, and the book has had orders from as far afield as Australia, Singapore and Hong Kong! The feedback coming in is that people are really enjoying the book and finding it helpful and inspirational – click on the links to read (or add!) reviews on Amazon or our website and keep telling us your thoughts.

We’ve also launched a new events section of our website so you can keep track of when we’re speaking near you.

Plus, we’ve updated our services page to explain a little bit more about us and what we do – when we’re not writing books that is!

Victoria Hands

The week has also ended on a high with the second Climb the Green Ladder LSE lecture.

After I introduced the Climb the Green Ladder and the six principles of successful sustainability initiatives, Dr Victoria Hands took to the stage.

Victoria, the Sustainability and Environment Manager from LSE, was one of the first people I interviewed during the research for Climb the Green Ladder. Her achievements in helping to get London universities recycling are a real example of how one person can make a difference and it was clear she left the audience inspired.

Dr Martin Blake, Royal Mail

Martin Blake is another incredible individual who shared his experiences with us during the research for Climb the Green Ladder. His achievements at helping Royal Mail become more sustainable – for example by showing them that making their buildings energy efficient could save £20 million a year – are hugely impressive. The audience appeared fascinated by his accounts of presenting the business case for sustainability and facilitating real change at Royal Mail.

It was really great to take questions, and then to meet and chat with members audience afterwards. Again, the main feedback from the event was that people really appreciated and were inspired by an approach which gave them tangible tips and examples of how they could put sustainability into practice in their working environment.

I’ll be putting some video footage of the lecture up soon – so watch this space!

Thanks again to those of you who attended, and keep your thoughts, feedback and successes coming in. We love hearing from you.

With best wishes,
Amy

November 26, 2009

London LSE Book launch & lecture hailed a ‘triumph’

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LSE Climb the Green Ladder launch

What a night! I’m thrilled to report that the London Climb the Green Ladder LSE lecture and launch was a resounding success!

‘Inspirational,’ and ‘empowering’ were the buzz words on the night, and the word on Twitter was that it was ‘the most inspiring public lecture ever on sustainability,’ (RT flame_me_ up).

Listen to the podcast here!

Don’t miss the next lecture on Dec 3 – read more!

The crowd

Thanks so much to those of you who attended – it was wonderful to see, and in some cases, meet you!

After an introduction by the chair, Dr Richard Perkins, I kicked off the lecture by telling the story of Climb The Green Ladder and introduced a few of the book’s key findings.

Jo Confino LSE Climb the Green Ladder Lecture

Jo Confino, The Guardian

Ed Gillespie, co-founder of Futerra, then had the crowd chucking with his fast-paced and insightful presentation on the right ways, and the wrong ways, to get your sustainability message across.

Next, Jo Confino, Executive Editor and Head of Sustainable Development at the Guardian, kept the audience rapt with his inspiring personal account of bringing sustainability to life at The Guardian.

Richard, Amy, Ed and Jo on LSE panel 23 November

Jo, Ed, Amy and Richard on LSE panel

This was followed by a Q&A.

Over 180 people attended, and the queue was so long to buy books afterwards that people were overheard saying they’d buy their copy online or at a bookshop later!

Listen to the podcast here!

Other comments on the night included:

‘Inspirational!’

Amy Fetzer Book Signing

‘Empowering’

‘Unlike other talks on sustainability – you really came away feeling like you could make a difference!’

‘Amazing, inspirational speakers!’

‘I’m definitely buying the book!’

‘The launch and lecture were a triumph’

October 13, 2009

23 Nov & 3 Dec LSE lectures to celebrate the launch of Climb the Green Ladder

Posted by Amy Fetzer under Books, Climb the Green Ladder, Environment, Fun, Life, Sustainability, Work
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To celebrate the launch of Climb the Green Ladder, we are running a series of lectures with the London School of Economics as part of their high-profile, well-respected, free evening lecture schedule.

The Climb the Green Ladder lecture series will feature business and sustainability leaders discussing the value of sustainability in the workplace.

Lecture 1: Climb the Green Ladder: how sustainability can make you and your company more successful

Date: Monday 23 November 2009
Time: 6:30pm
Venue: Old Theatre, Old Building, London School of Economics, Houghton Street, WC2A 2AE
Speakers: Jo Confino, Executive Editor and Head of Sustainable Development, The Guardian & Ed Gillespie, Co-Founder, Futerra

What strategies can individuals within organisations use to make their organisation more successful and sustainable?

Ed Gillespie and Jo Confino’s experiences are featured in Climb The Green Ladder: Make Your Company and Career More Sustainable by Amy Fetzer and Shari Aaron (Wiley). To celebrate the launch of Climb The Green Ladder on 13 November, Ed and Jo will discuss the strategies that individuals within organisations can use to make their organisation more successful and sustainable. They will also highlight how taking the lead and helping your organisation can future-proof your career by marking you out as a dynamic, creative achiever.

More info: http://www2.lse.ac.uk/publicEvents/events/2009/20090903t1553z001.aspx

Lecture 2: Climb the Green Ladder: How to achieve astonishing results

Date: Thursday 3 December 2009
Time: 6:30pm
Venue: Hong Kong Theatre, Clement House, London School of Economics, 99 Aldwych, WC2B 4JF
Speakers: Dr Martin Blake, Head of Sustainability, Royal Mail & Dr Victoria Hands, Sustainability and Environment Manager, LSE

What strategies can individuals use to make their organisation more sustainable?

Victoria Hands and Martin Blake’s experiences are featured in Climb The Green Ladder: Make Your Company and Career More Sustainable by Amy Fetzer and Shari Aaron (Wiley), launched on 13 November 2009. Victoria and Martin will discuss the strategies that individuals within organisations can use to make their organisation more successful and sustainable. They will also highlight how taking the lead and helping your organisation can future-proof your career by marking you out as a dynamic, creative achiever.

More info: http://www2.lse.ac.uk/publicEvents/events/2009/20090903t1557z001.aspx

The lectures are free and open to all. It would be lovely to see you there!

August 26, 2009

Climb The Green Ladder meets with Freya Williams from OgilvyEarth

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Tour of Ogilvy & Mather's new green headquarters

After interviewing Freya Williams from OgilvyEarth for Climb The Green Ladder, we were thrilled to catch up with Freya in person, and to visit the company’s new LEED certified building in New York*.

Freya, a Senior Partner, Planning Director, had already inspired us by helping Ogilvy & Mather launch a green consulting arm and to reduce its business impacts, from introducing double-sided printing to dishing out reusable water bottles.

Now Freya is launching Hopenhagen (www.hopenhagen.org) a high profile campaign which aims to raise awareness of the crucial climate change summit happening in Copenhagen this December (http://en.cop15.dk/).

Freya and her partner, Seth Farbman, have been working with the creative team to raise awareness for event. The Summit in Copenhagen is the culmination of many months of work to get world agreement to mitigate the devastating impacts of carbon emissions.

The opportunity to focus the attention of political and business leaders, as well as motivate more individuals to put pressure on these groups to ratify a world treaty, is of tremendous importance. The scientific community urges us to drastically reduce our carbon emissions in order to lessen the severity of the impacts of climate change.

Hopenhagen aims to be an ‘open source’ campaign using a central website, hopenhagen.org, to drive the debate and awareness and allow users to send messages to the 192 UN delegates attending the meeting.

To get inspired, visit:

http://www.hopenhagen.org/
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2009/jun/23/hopenhagen-climate-change-campaign

(*Application for LEED certification is pending but they expect to receive gold level certification.)

August 26, 2009

First Climb The Green Ladder web-based seminar has great feedback

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Amy and Shari premiered the highlights of Climb The Green Ladder and the six key approaches that underpin effective sustainability initiatives, featured in our book.

Our first webinar was conducted in July on Ventureneer.com, an online learning community. It was great fun, and we had fantastic feedback.

This included an invitation to give the presentation live at a ‘Lunch and Learn’ seminar for a major chemical company in September.

Stay tuned for more information on upcoming Climb The Green Ladder web-based seminars.

To find our more about our training programs and ‘Lunch and Learn’ sessions, please send us an email and we will be delighted to send you more information.

August 26, 2009

Climb The Green Ladder to speak in New Haven, CT

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Climb The Green Ladder’s Shari Aaron will be speaking at Green Works Workshop and Festival on September 11th at Southern Connecticut State University, New Haven, CT.

Program Title: Green Business Sense: Why and How to Green Up your Work Life

For more information, visit:
http://ctfolk.com/ctff/greenworks.html

Please send me an email if you are able to attend as it would be great to meet you!

August 3, 2009