In June 2009 the Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio, hosted the second Global Forum for Business as an Agent of World Benefit, in an effort supported by the United Nations Global Compact, the Academy of Management and the Global Forum consortium — with the Fetzer Institute, the Federation of Industries of the States of Parana (Brazil) and Fairmount Minerals.
 

The conference brought together nearly 600 leaders in the areas of sustainability, business, policy, academia and design. The theme of the summit was "Manage by designing in an era of massive innovation", calling on participants to reflect on the opportunities to design the change the planet needs using innovative thinking. David Cooperrider, co-developer of Appreciative Inquiry, was one of the masterminds behind this exceptional event that was convened to inspire an audience eager to act to meet today's pressing social and environmental needs.

 

The concept
 

The concept of this forum was to focus over three days on humanity's ability to create positive change in the world through innovative thinking and design concepts. For that purpose, the summit itself took the shape of a creative setting, where state-of-the-art presentations by top leaders were alternated with intense small group dialogues designed to facilitate planning and concrete action steps.
 

Challenging perspectives
 

The summit opened with a provocative presentation by entrepreneur Gunter Pauli, founder of Zero Emissions Research Initiative. He began by sharing a hard lesson learned a few years ago when he led the innovative process to clean up European rivers using biodegradable products. Only later did he realize that by so doing he was contributing to the extinction of the Indonesian Orangutan. The reason? Lack of systemic thinking. Biodegradable cleaning products are based on palm oil, and the demand for palm oil led Indonesian farmers to clear the rainforest in order to increase plantations of palm trees. And so the orangutan lost his home.

"The wisdom of the past is not the wisdom of today," he warned. "We need to stop thinking of doing no harm: we need to start finding ways to restore nature. We need to stop thinking how to manufacture non-contaminating batteries: we have to focus on creating innovative energy sources that don't use batteries at all! The USA alone spends US$ 1 trillion yearly to dispose of waste. This is twice as much as what goes into Obama's recovery plan," he observed. "We need to build new business models that take a positive approach and unleash the dormant creativity in all of us." And he cited the example of Toyota, which is developing a car that actually purifies the air, and of the 2700 Japanese corporations that are already in the zero waste-zero emission program.

Another recent project he led through his foundation  promotes multi cropping in Colombia^[1], where farmers used only to produce coffee in a procedure resulting in a large waste of the husks. The program at the ZERI model farm known as La Mixoca reduced coffee waste by using it to grow shiitake mushrooms, at the same time as they incorporated six different herbal and caffeine-free teas, dehydrated bananas and bamboo products^[2].
 

Bio roofs
 

Bill McDonough, an internationally renowned designer and recipient of numerous awards for his environmentally breakthrough designs, shared some troubling facts, together with some inspirational news. According to recent data, there is 46 times more plastic than plankton in the Pacific current. The oceans are responsible for absorbing 48% of the CO2 in the atmosphere, however the huge volume they are absorbing is modifying and rapidly decreasing the acidity of the water. The pH has to be in the range of 8.8 to 8.2. Today the measurements indicate we are at 8.06 units. At 7.9 the coral reefs dissolve, and this is the base of the food chain, he noted. We need to change our mindset, moving from not destroying the environment to saving it; and he added that  being less bad is very different from being good. He gave the example of a car going slower in the wrong direction: this slower pace will not help the driver to arrive at the destination — unless the slowing down is used to turn the car around and to begin going into the other direction. Efficiency is not enough, he insisted, because it just takes us to zero. We need to rebuild what human behaviors have damaged, mostly unknowingly, he indicated, since only a third of the chemicals used in the world today have been actually tested.
 

As an example of positive initiatives, he cited the redesign of a Ford plant in Chicago. The redesign was budgeted at US$48 million, while it cost only US$13 million, which is an interesting fact to correct the myth that being "green" is more costly. A construction that was just blacktop, concrete and steel was converted into a field of green where now Canadian geese, mallard ducks and killdeer nest and raise offspring. Sustainability experts say the Ford Rouge Center project inspired other businesses and organizations around the world to pursue similar projects. Moreover, in urban areas families are transforming their roofs into farmland, as it is the case in China, where rice and other crops are now grown. ^[3]  Another innovative solution was developed by US furniture manufacturer Herman Miller. As they redesigned their plant to become "green", they attracted a colony of wasps. After some brainstorming they decided to invite in bees installing some beehives, and the bees took care of the wasps. The by-product? The furniture manufacturer bottles the honey and offers it as a gift to plant visitors and customers, sending at the same time a message of environmentally friendly behaviors and creativity!

A crowded interconnected unsustainable society
 

These were the words used by Jeffrey Sachs, Director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University, special Advisor to the UN Secretary General, who participated in the creation of the Millennium Development Goals, the internationally established goals to reduce extreme poverty, disease and hunger by 2015. In midst of a sequence of encouraging and hopeful presentations about initiatives to develop peace, fight illiteracy and transform the contents of business schools, his words fell like an ice-cold shower. "Yes, we may be the first generation to end poverty...but we may also be the last generation with a viable planet," he admonished a rapt and silent audience. "We are at a crossroads — but we barely are conscious we have this choice.  Just think that one unit of beef requires 10 units of land, 10 of water and 10 of feed." I couldn't help thinking of my mother-in-law who lived through the Depression of 1929, and raised her family growing their food on a half-acre lot, and only had meat on rare occasions.
 

Ask Nature
 

One of the most inspiring presentations was led by Janine Benyus a biologist, innovation consultant, and author of six books, including her latest — Biomimicry: Innovation Inspired by Nature. With slides and stories she described what "biomimicry" is: an emerging discipline that seeks sustainable solutions by emulating nature's designs and processes. This can be for example solar cells that mimic leaves, agriculture that models a prairie, businesses that run like redwood forests. She described her role as biologist at the design table in corporations, where R&D professionals and engineers ask her for advice — and she brings models inspired in designs tested over 3.8 billion years: the designs of nature and its organisms. "We can learn from, and emulate, the nature that surrounds us, and develop products, processes and policies that create conditions conducive to life."
 

"Just as we are beginning to recognize all there is to learn from the natural world, our models are starting to blink out — not just a few scattered organisms, but entire ecosystems. A new survey by the National Biological Service found that one-half of all native ecosystems in the United States are degraded to the point of endangerment. How can we live on this home planet without destroying it?" She gave examples of a new joining system that replaces screws, bolts, glue, flanges and nails, by studying how blue mussels adhere to surfaces; inspired by a desert beetle that is able to collect water on the bumps of its back and roll it into its mouth, panels were designed that harvest water; analyzing how termite mounds manage heat and cold through vents and tunnels, in Zimbabwe a building was developed that uses a similar system; mimicking the lotus leaf, a self-cleaning design for glass and textiles was developed.
 

Janine also created an interactive website called Ask Nature, where much of her collected knowledge is shared with the world (www.asknature.org)^[4]
 

Her closing words were a suggestion that sounded more like a personal request: "There is no time to be shy. Be bold, act now."

What do we do with all this?
 

Throughout the summit, participants interacted in learning dyads, smalls groups and task forces. The design allowed us time to conduct conversations, to write in our journals, facilitated by guiding questions, and to develop step by step a prototype of a solution or a dream project. The last day, the participants' teams presented their creations, which included projects such as crafting a Declaration of Interdependence that would be signed by the states of the world; developing a Nobel-like award for sustainable businesses; launching a process to brainstorm the concept of a firm inviting students, faculty and administrators in colleges; a reflective bus where people would ride for a short period with the goal of having a meaningful conversation and encounter with one other person. The forum launched a virtual platform (bawbglobalforum.ning.com) open to all participants and visitors, where information about the forum and the projects can be uploaded, shared and followed up.
 

I came away with my mind in a mixture of concern, urgency and determination. The challenge is huge, and the task daunting. But as Sandra Waddock from Boston College said: If not us, who? If not now, when?

 

 

 

 

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