Recently I was invited to go to the Seattle Bloomberg Sustainable Business Summit and I was so honored to attend and learn about what companies in our region and all around the world are doing to help our planet. Last year was my first time at this conference and I learned a lot about REI and Microsoft and about these companies’ sustainable initiatives. This year I was excited to hear from Art Peck, the President and CEO of Gap Inc and Kate Wilson, the Director of Environmental Sustainability at Vail Resorts. I purchase Gap clothing and we visit Whistler at least once a year, so these two businesses definitely impact my family.
Sustainability at Gap Inc.
Art Peck talked about supply and demand and how in retail those two are often not aligned. I appreciated a story he told to illustrate this, about a “ditsy print poly blouse” on the clearance rack and how when we see an item that is so drastically discounted it represents both a loss of profits as well as a loss for the environment. There is hope for sustainability in retail because there is a lot of room to make positive change in this industry. I didn’t realize how much fast-fashion is based on non-sustainable fibers and that “virtually no clothing is recycled”. As Art talked about a “dawning of awareness of customers” I realized that I am one of these customers that needs to become more informed about the fashion industry and I need to be aware of the choices I’m making when I buy clothes. Learning things like this is one of the reasons why I’m really glad I’ve had the chance to attend the Bloomberg Sustainability summit too.
I was also reminded about Athleta clothing and how much I’ve enjoyed buying them lately-they are a Gap brand and this clothing is awesome for everyday wear and exceptionally awesome for travel. I didn’t know Athleta was a certified B Corporation. I have had heard the term B Corp before but didn’t know what it stood for, so hearing this term used at a sustainability summit made me look it up. After I read more about it, one of my favorite things that B Corp companies believe in is that “through their products, practices, and profits, businesses should aspire to do no harm and benefit all”. I will definitely be checking more often to see if the companies I buy from are B Corp certified and I was really thankful that I learned this from Art Peck’s talk.
Sustainability at Vail Resorts at the Bloomberg Sustainable Business Summit in Seattle
Vail Resorts operates Stevens Pass in Washington and Whistler/Blackcomb in British Columbia among a big portfolio of other mountain resorts, accommodations and real estate. Kate Wilson, the Director of Environmental Sustainability at Vail Resorts explained Vail Resorts “commitment to zero” by 2030. This means “zero net emissions”, “zero waste to landfill” and “zero net operating impact to forests and habitat.” I did not know how intentional Vail Resorts was being in their efforts for zero impact- I was especially intrigued about their use of wind power for clean energy because we have seen windmills pop up more and more in our travels. Have you noticed more windmills where you live too?
Learning about Sustainability at Canvas
Canvas is a company I didn’t know about at all until I heard about them at this Bloomberg Sustainability summit. Although we eat mostly vegetarian in our household, I have never thought about how many animals and fish die every day for human consumption until Sarah Pool, the CEO and Co-Founder of Canvas took the stage at the Bloomberg Sustainable Business Summit. I thought she was exaggerating so I googled the stats and got all the scary things, but of course I also quickly confirmed a number that sounded like over 150 million A DAY too. And then Sarah talked about how much leftover byproduct there is from the brewing industry and how her company is using that spent grain to create food. I looked up Canvas as well (I was on a total Google roll) and now I want to try some of their protein/fibre drinks because the idea seems to make sense. In the very least, it’s worth a humble try because Sarah Pool has a compelling message about the future of our earth and her big personality and amazing sustainability goals are very inspiring.
We heard from many other speakers at this afternoon conference and we also heard from Veronika Henze from Bloomberg who talked about a Gender Equality Index and shared a slide predicting women controlling 50% of the world’s assets by 2025. (ESG data means Environmental and Sustainable Governance Data)
Mayor Durkan from Seattle also spoke briefly about Seattle’s sustainability efforts from increasing the city’s density and walkability, improving public transit, making it easier for the future of electric cars, greener builds and working with other west coast cities for combined buying power for things like electric buses.
Learning about what businesses are doing to help the world is very reassuring and I felt like I left with tools to help me find more businesses that are working towards gender equality and sustainable business goals.
Are you interested in how businesses are working towards sustainability? Does these kinds of things play a factor in how you make choices with your purchases or investments?
Terumi Pong is a Seattle-based family travel writer and mom of twin teenage boys. She loves coffee and pastries, shopping local and looking for greener ways to live. She is also known as Scout’s mom (Scout is a 5ish pound little black yorkie-poo)
A very interesting article! It gave me much food for thought. Thanks!