The Ontario Green Energy and Economy Act and You!

This year I am optimistic because Ontario, the province which I have chosen to live in, has become one of the leading regions in North America by the passing of Bill 150 The Ontario Green Energy and Economy Act.  This piece of progressive public policy in Ontario is the result of two major stakeholders: 

The first is by the tireless efforts of the renewable and distributed energy stakeholders in Ontario, namely, The Community Power Fund, The Ontario Sustainable Energy Association, The Toronto Renewable Energy Co-operative and their respective stakeholders.  These organizations have been working to make locally distributed and renewable energy accessible to Ontarians for the last 10-15 years and they have now formed the Green Energy Act Alliance to act as a lobbying group, with considerable clout and brand appeal, to inform our public servants and the community about the benefits of renewable energy and green economies for Ontario. 

The second major stakeholder is The Government of Ontario, namely, Dalton McGuinty (Ontario’s Premier) and George Smitherman (Minister of Energy and Infrastructure).  This government has been very receptive and open to the green energy movement in Ontario and has listened to stakeholders about envisioning a new energy paradigm in Ontario that is clean, renewable, decarbonized, sustainable and will create thousands of jobs in the new green economy.  Dalton McGuinty has recently been awarded the Best Regional Politician by TreeHugger.com’s first annual Best of Green: Business and Politics Competition.

Since his election, Dalton McGuinty has:

“On the energy front: …closed coal fired power plants and promised to eliminate coal from the province by 2014, changed the rules to encourage alternative energy, and is introducing a controversial but important green energy plan. Not only that but he declared a green belt the size of the Province of Prince Edward Island; and recently announced a massive investment in rapid transit for Toronto (TreeHugger.Com, 2009).”

What does Bill 150 mean for Ontario and our future Energy mix?  Well, there are four key policy initiatives which you should be aware of:

1.    Enhanced policy commitment to conservation, smart grid and renewable:  This means that the Ontario Energy Board will have expanded objectives that they must adhere to regarding energy conservation, grid infrastructure renewal, and the inclusion of renewable energy into the supply mix. 

2.    Enabling feed-in tariffs to procure renewable:  This means that the government will pay a standard price for renewable energy that is generated by small and large-scale producers.  Feed-in tariffs (FITs) are the most cost-effective way to procure renewable energy as demonstrated in Europe.  The FITs that are being proposed are the highest Ontario has ever seen and spur rapid development of renewable energy projects and increase green jobs in this province. 

3.    Guaranteeing and prioritizing connection of renewable energy:  Renewable energy will finally be given priority access to our energy grid.   

4.    Streamlining approvals while protecting neighbouring uses: This will help to reduce the bureaucracy involved with connecting to the grid for renewable energy producers, while also protecting the public’s investment into our energy infrastructure.   

If you would like more information about Bill 150 please the site for the Green Energy Act Alliance or the Ministry of Energy and Infrastructure.

Also, you should get involved more with your energy usage.  Why not start conserving your home’s energy and tapping into the tax rebates the government is offering on home renovations?  Why not make your home a net energy producer by installing solar hot water or solar cells on your roof?  Those seeking to learn how to do a household or community power project should visit the OSEA site and get involved. Why not write your local MPP or Dalton McGuinty and tell him you support this wonderful initiative to produce clean, green, and sustainable energy for Ontario, while reducing our carbon footprint? 

This is going to be a good year for renewable energy in Ontario.  I too have renewed energy for the power of grassroots movements and the power of progressive governments to make change!!!

Steven Pacifico is the Manager of  Sustainability & Stakeholder Engagement at The Delphi Group and Guest Blogger here at ARC.

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Meeting with Severn Cullis-Suzuki

When was the last time you went into your basement or garage to dust off the stuff in your old storage boxes? You know what I’m talking about – the ones that hold your high school memorabilia, your trophies, your first baseball mitt. In my case, many of these boxes are filled with old books and journals. I was recently inspired to venture into my basement to seek out my teen-aged writings. What I found were words fuelled by the angst I felt about certain things that needed change in our society – for me, many of the issues at that time focused around women’s rights, which I felt quite passionate about.

On January 11th, 2009, Billie and I joined forces with Joe Dee from MaRS and Lisa Torjman from Social Innovation Generation (SiG) @MaRS to facilitate a workshop on social technology and environmental activism at the Studio Earth day organized by SiG@Waterloo. Severn Cullis-Suzuki had the keynote speech that followed our workshop and it was the catalyst in my desire to reconnect with my old activist self. Before coming on stage, Severn showed the video of herself as a 12-year old passionately speaking in front of international representatives at the 1992 UN Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro. She spoke on behalf of an NGO that she started at 9 years-old called Environmental Children’s Organization (ECO) and the purpose of her speech was to highlight the urgency to make environmentally conscious policy choices across the world in order to leave a clean, safe earth for generations to come.

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With her father as one of the world leaders in the movement towards a sustainable earth, Severn explained in her speech at The Kitchener City Hall that she was inspired by her family’s quest for justice from an early age. However, although she may have had a foundation for her path as an activist, her kind of passion, anger and fury can only come from somewhere deep within. Somewhere deep inside of you that tells you that something is just not right with a particular situation or, in this case, an international approach to the earth we all live on. That part of us, our essence, never dies; it just gets quieter from time to time.

Reviving the Young Activist

Seeing Severn now, 17 years after that monumental talk, you notice a young woman who is more mature and refined, but still has a great deal of that innocent fire, which shines though her honesty and vulnerability. Severn mentioned that she was surprised to see a revived interest in this speech on the internet over the last few years. Well, for me, there is no surprise there.

It’s almost as if societally we are in our childhood again. It’s not exactly infancy because we are not starting from scratch, but we have had to go back to the early stages of development in order to reassess what went wrong in our societal evolution to bring us to the current state of the world. The present economic crisis, much like the snowstorms and power outages we are experiencing in Toronto, are a time of reflection and re-birth.

Severn’s 12 year-old self says, “I’m only a child, yet I know we are all in this together and should act as one single world towards one single goal.” I think it’s high time that we reconnect with that passionate 12-year old in each of us and allow that fire to fuel the momentum of change around the issues that inspire us most.

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The Rob Campbell Connection

Rob Campbell directs SMOjoe on the fringe of ARC. That could be the opening sentence of a wonderful science fiction story. In this futuristic fantasy thriller, a hero nicknamed Arob, the Son of a Beekeeper runs a starship called SMOjoe that orbits a lush fertile planet codenamed ARC. The colonists have just arrived here and have seeded their first plantations (don’t worry, its sustainable growth and the natives were placated with good jobs and benefits) and Arob, the captain of starship SMOjoe social media is sky writing and sending out plasma light signals to all available merchant ships – Planet ARC is open for trade!

The metaphor is obvious and bears no scrutiny. Fortunately the non fiction version is equally exciting, and doesn’t suffer from space pirates or mutant crop infestations which I couldn’t bear to tell you about. The truth is simple and straight forward; Rob Campbell is building a company that uses social media to tell stories on the internet, and so is Billie Mintz.

Rob met Billie through Mitch Korman

A real estate developer and social coordinator named Mitch Korman introduced me to Billie Mintz in the first part of this decade, and then we reconnected in Oct 2008.

I’m pretty sure Billie was at the May 24 2004 party at 90 Gilgorm when I sparked off a 21 Roman Candle salute to Mitch in the backyard of his upscale home. That was indeed memorable, and might serve as a beacon to properly illuminate the origins of our friendship in the fog of time.

We bumped into each other in Canadian television when I was a union film technician, and Billie was an actor on Degrassi and freelance filmmaker with good indie producer connections… I served The Man and built scaffolding for bubble gum commercials, while he made his own movies around which those  commercials could be sold, and so deep down I knew he was cooler than me.

Billie’s early business cards were very cool

I remember Billie’s first business card really impressed me; it said ‘Next Mountain Pictures’ or something like that, and it simplified his gumption right in the title. You know I admire brevity, and so I won’t say anything else.

The Gist of this Post

On the periphery of these Artists who are busy Raising Consciousness there’s a shadow called SMOjoe that builds social presence for companies on the internet. What’s interesting is the change that’s occurring in the soft struggle for change that’s occurring between Rob Campbell and Susanna Kislenko /Billie Mintz. After looking for picture credits and discussing tone and content and theme these people have changed the way Rob Campbell runs SMOjoe. And I know my star ship has impacted the way ideas are packaged and delivered on ARC. For example just look at that sexy blue colored MyBlogLog social widget on the right hand side of the screen. As you can imagine that was hours of my time tweaking the tender javascript to appear blue and 300 wide. I had to start a conversation in Get Satisfaction.com to find the page that hosts the social widget and there’s another tip for the techies.

Look out for Space Pirates! Let’s meet Michael Cayley

This story doesn’t have an ending and that’s because we’ve only just begun. But it may be the end of the beginning. Perhaps events at Friday December 18th ARC Institute Holiday Party at their offices in downtown Toronto tonight will be the start of Chapter Two?

I’m bringing an expert with a vision. I’ve invited Michael Cayley to join me tonight, and he’s accepted the invitation. Michael is a ‘one match fire’,  and if I spark talk this guy could set the place alight with next generation social networking concepts. You can read about Michael and the SCVA on Canada Blog Friends index.

Andrew Nisker is the filmmaker behind Garbage.

Billie meets Andrew

Andrew Nisker will be there too, I hope. Billie and Susanna and I sat down with Andrew at Hemmingways on Weds Dec 10th at 5pm. Andrew made the film called Garbage which has been well received by green media and various societies for social change all over the world. It was indeed remarkable to listen to these two visionaries / storytellers share ideas and concepts over tea. I’m certain Andrew will be invited to join Artists Raising Consciousness which benefits CSR expert storytellers with increased funding for their future film and video projects.

SMOjoe and ARC

SMOjoe has affected the way ARC Institute blogs, and in turn has been infected with a proclivity toward full disclosure, and the unprofitable habit of volunteering articles and blog posts for positive change.

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The Big Shift At Business Schools

While I was at the Schulich School of Business as part of the first graduating class of the International Bachelor of Business Administration (iBBA) program, I struggled to understand where I fit in within the world of a conventional business school. I was not an accountant or a financier at heart, and although the concepts behind marketing appealed to me, I never felt right about using psychological insight to create artificial needs, just so people could be happy with their next detergent purchase.

I realized in my first semester at business school that although I enjoyed the social aspect of the program and the opportunity to study abroad, my view of the world did not correlate with the philosophy that was being taught in the classroom, especially the idea of a single bottom line as the only option for a functioning organization.

I remember sitting in my accounting classes being afraid to raise my hand and ask the question I really wanted answered – what if you are a non-profit or a foundation that sits on the periphery of GAAP laws, how do the rules change then? I did manage to gather the courage to ask that question once or twice, but it was often met with a blank stare or a brief answer that was more of a brush-off so we could stop wasting class time and get back to the “real work”.

While in my fourth year, I wanted to find a way to understand how to integrate some of the values that are inherent within non-profits and put them into the corporate structure.  Hidden within the layers of postings dedicated to finance and accounting, I found a small announcement about a Certificate of Business Ethics that could be taken to supplement our business degrees. With butterflies in my stomach, I finally broached the subject with a faculty member, whose immediate response was “Why would you want to waste your time doing something like that? Focus on your ‘core’ work.” And that was it. No further discussion. 

I left Schulich and through Kariann Aarup’s Community Experience Initiative program, began a career in the world of the “do gooders”. Although many of my close friends are fellow Schulich grads, I have generally stayed away from alumni events, as I didn’t think I’d have much in common with the people attending.

The annual Schulich alumni event, Connect 2008

All this changed at the end of last month, as I was encouraged by Billie to attend the annual Schulich alumni event, Connect 2008. Although I was quite reluctant at first, ultimately I am glad that I made the trek up to York University on that chilly Saturday morning. In a previous blog, Billie spoke about how returning to McConnell was a turning point for him; coming back to Schulich held an intensely similar feeling for me. That morning was when my personal big picture started to come together.

That Saturday, I had the opportunity to re-connect with administration and former classmates and attend panels devoted to social enterprise and corporate social responsibility (an unprecedented set of topics during my time as a student). Hearing the keynote speaker, Jim Balsillie of Research in Motion, speak about the need to encourage innovation in Canada brought up some great questions about Canada’s existing and potential role on the world stage. With initiatives such as the recent opening of The Balsillie School of International Affairs, he is definitively helping pave the way for new leaders in this country. Another highlight of the day was meeting new and inspired faculty who are paving the way for creating the next set of business leaders that understand both the method and value of the triple bottom line (with social, environmental and financial considerations).

Andrew Crane and Dirk Matten

Two of these academics are Andrew Crane and Dirk Matten; a pair of bright European thinkers (British and German, respectively) who have been shipped south to Canada in order to infuse some of the European models into the Canadian landscape. Crane and Matten are part of the group of driven individuals leading the way for a transformation in understanding that is not European or North American in nature, but a truly global phenomenon.

During my last year at Schulich, I completed an independent research project under Dr. Patricia Bradshaw, one of my favourite professors and greatest mentors who encouraged my growth and understanding of the bridge between the non-profit and for-profit worlds. My study was focused on the difference between leadership styles within non-profits and those of traditional corporations. What I discovered in my preliminary research is that although there are discrepancies in terms of the background and often value-based decisions that are made, all executive leaders, whether in the public or private sector, possess the same qualities.

A leader is someone with faith, unwavering vision and an understanding of what it takes to get the job done with integrity - a real creative thinker. Those are the kinds of leaders we are seeking now. Whether they are individuals or organizations is no longer relevant. There is a big shift taking place; a shift in consciousness, a shift in understanding and a real need to come together in order to bridge the puzzle and start to make concrete repairs to our “broken” societal structure.

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Investing In Sustainability During An Economic Crisis

Steven Pacifico has a Master of Environmental Studies from York University in ‘Applied sustainable development for organizational change’,  as well as a Diploma in Business and Sustainability from the Schulich School of Business.  His undergraduate degree is in Environmental Sciences from the University of Guelph, focusing on Environmental Impact Assessment and Protection. Steven has lived,  worked, and traveled in over 17 countries and can communicate in 5 languages.  He currently works as the Manager of Sustainability and Stakeholder Engagement for The Delphi Group located in Toronto, ON.  Steven has submitted this message to ARC in hopes that we would publish it, and we did.

Investing In Sustainability During An Economic Crisis

Good Management or Crazy ECO Talk?

I’m tired of seeing sustainability go out the boardroom door (and public office) as soon as there is an economic downturn.  As David Suzuki, our Canadian Eco-Guru, has repeatedly said:   Economy and Ecology come from the same root word, ECO meaning home.  In general, ecology means the study of principles governing the home and economy means the management of the home.  In modern history, we have constantly put economy before ecology, but it should be the reverse. If we do not work within the principles of our natural ecosystem, it does not matter how we manage our economy.  We are living out this mistaken ECO role reversal as demonstrated by this current economic crisis:  Profit maximization at all cost, environmental and social values ehhhh, maybe.

Let’s take a moment to define sustainability

If you are unsure what sustainability means, the most widely accepted definition takes into consideration three pillars, environmental health, social well-being, and economic considerations, when making decisions.  Normally, there is notion of time with a longer-term view embedded into sustainability because practitioners are trying to ensure a high quality of life now, while not compromising a high quality of life for future generations.

The majority of 2008—pre subprime mortgage/ global economic instability—the environment ranked a number one priority for Canadians.  It was also one of the biggest issues in the last federal election.  Climate change was reported on daily in most newspapers, online, and in the media.  What’s happening now? Not such a hot topic when jobs are being lost, pensions are disappearing, and investments are tanking.  And what is our response, one of the world’s most popular phrases in 2008, ‘Bailout.’  What we are doing, instead of investing in our environment and people, is we are bailing out the economic institutions which have mismanaged their stakeholder’s (largely all of us) investments, decimated our natural ecosystem (which we depend on for clean air and water), and have made no attempt to innovate or mitigate for sustainability.

This is a tragedy for me.  I’ve been a hopeful, solutions based, pragmatic environmentalist for over 10 years and this makes me sad and frustrated.  And, when I go over and over in my head, ‘what went wrong,’ I always come to this conclusion:  Our economy is flawed.  It is based solely on one bottom line, profit maximization; but, our social and environmental values as a nation and world are not fully embedded in the economy.    For example, if we start a war, pollute, purchase anti-depressants our Gross Domestic Product—a country’s measure of success and growth—increases.  This is not the way forward and although I am a frustrated environmentalist, I STILL HAVE HOPE!

Over the last few decades, some extremely intelligent thinkers, innovators, and entrepreneurs have realized something; something extremely special.  When you invest in sustainability, it is not just a cost, it is not just altruistic, it is a major revenue generator.   Sustainability equals good management of all your resources: cash, environment, and people.

What are some of the potential benefits of incorporating sustainability into the corporate decision making process?

Tangible Benefits (Those that you can quantify):
•    More efficient and prudent use of resources translating into cost savings
•    Reductions in waste, water, and energy use
•    License to operate
•    Risk mitigation related to regulations and future resource limitations; therefore, easier financing
•    Increased productivity
•    Increased recruitment of the most talented workers
•    Increased retention rates, due to enhanced corporate pride and career development
•    Competitive advantage

Intangible Benefits (Those that are not easily quantifiable):
•    Improved corporate image
•    Stakeholder buy-in
•    More engaged stakeholders contributing to decision making and innovations
•    Improved employee competency
•    Enhanced corporate pride
•    Increased employee motivation

While our failing economy doesn’t necessarily consider social and environmental values, some corporations are.  These companies are positioning themselves as the most successful and the most resilient to this type of economic turmoil.

If you are in a position of power within government or business this message is for you:

Should you invest in sustainability during an economic crisis?  YES! YES! YES!  This economic crisis we are dealing with now, while grave and getting worse, provides us with an enormous opportunity for us to change our behavior through sustainability strategy.  Economy and ecology should not be considered two different things, but should be interwoven in our decision-making processes, our accounting systems, our short and long term planning, and our measures of success. It would be fiscally, socially, and environmentally irresponsible, to shareholders and all stakeholders, not to invest in sustainability.

Believe & Hope.

Steven Pacifico

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ARC Intern Thrown Into Action At Molson

Alyssa at ARC

Today was my first day as a part of the ARC Institute team.  My name is Alyssa and I’m new.

I’m actually used to being the newbie… I grew up as an absolute nomad, spending a few years here and there in many different countries. From Singapore to Sydney to Seoul to Hong Kong to Guangzhou and Los Angeles.  I don’t consider myself being from anywhere in particular, but everywhere I’ve lived has contributed to who I am as a person.
I am studying journalism at the University of King’s College in Halifax and I absolutely love my program.  I have the ability to tell stories there and that is what I want to do. ARC seemed like a perfect fit for my internship and so far it has been eventful. I’m helping Billie edit the Message in the Bottle video series. What I enjoy most is that I am able to weave together the stories of others through the editing process.  It’s like fitting together one of the 2,000 piece puzzles. You have to sift through the different snippets of pictures to find just the right piece. And once you do, you fit it in, sit back and smile at the beautiful picture you have created with all the smaller ones.

On my first day, Billie and I videotaped Mary Donohue

I wasn’t quite sure what to expect as we pulled up to a lovely house in the Beaches.  Mary, absolutely full of energy, greeted us at door.  She introduced us to her intern Karine Krause, who was also beginning her first day on the job.

Mary and Karine were soon seated in the kitchen and down to business. Billie and I began observing.

At first I didn’t really understand what the mentorship program was about, but it didn’t take too long to figure it out. Basically, a mentor from a corporation, in this case Molson, gets together with a student to help a charity solve a business related problem. Pretty simple.  But the effects seem to be bigger than all that. A charity has a business problem fixed, at no cost to them.  A student gets hands on experience in the business world, while the mentor from the corporation gets the satisfaction of helping them out. Sounds like corporate social responsibility to me, not to mention a good idea.

Mary is not just big on Don Quixote, elephants and archaeology, but also philanthropy.  To her a good day is getting people passionate about saving the world.

And that’s what we were off to do. After feeding her dog a biscuit, all four of us piled into her car and headed out to the Molson Brewery for a conference.

We met up with our other cameraman, Thomas.  I had the glorious job of holding the boom. After fighting with the cables for about 7 minutes, Thomas had prepped me for task.  I had never held a boom until that day and I felt pretty legit. My first day on the job and I was getting right in there.

Molson National Mentoring Program

We set up in the boardroom for the presentation. There were 13 Molson employees in the room.  Mary Donohue was really excited as she gave her presentation on the program.  She talked about the past success of the mentors, mentees and the charities and why it was worth getting involved. What she was saying made a lot of sense. You hear a lot about Corporations and how much they give to charities, how much money they donate, but this is not just giving, it is investing – investing in the community.

Meanwhile I am still holding the boom. Trying not to get in anybody’s way, which is hard to do when you are holding a mic on the end of a six-foot pole in the middle of a boardroom.  I kept looking at Thomas and at Billie to get the nod that everything was OK; that I wasn’t messing up, ruining any shots or fumbling the sound.

I was also in charge of the tapes. Thank goodness I was wearing my slouchy grey boots from ALDO. I was storing 6 tapes, a note pad, two pens and a cell phone in them.  I had everything organized according to boot. One boot held tapes 1, 2 and 5 for Billie’s camera and the other boot held tapes 3,4 and 6 for Thomas’ camera. The cell phone in one boot and then the note pad and pen in the other; everything was easily accessible.  Scott Ewart, the Chief Legal and Public Affairs Officer of Molson even commented on how handy the boots seemed to be.

At the end of the day we headed back to Mary’s for some left over pizza. She was such an interesting and passionate person to spend the day with.  She really believes in corporate philanthropy and is willing to spend her time making other people not only believe in it, but trust it too.

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ARC revisits McConnell Foundation

In November 2008,  when I walked into the offices of the The J.W. McConnell Family Foundation at 1002 Sherbrooke St W in Montreal,  I knew I’d come full circle.  Much earlier in 2008, I came through these very doors to meet Susanna Kislenko, who, at that time was considering me for the role of telling the story of one of the McConnell grantees.  Now, seven months later, I was returning to the same McConnell office, but this time Susanna was with me, having recently come on as Chief Operating Officer of ARC.  I get chills just thinking about it.

Seven months ago, my education in social innovation began.  You can read that blog post here.  That was when I arrived for my first McConnell visit as a filmmaker, and I left as an advocate for social change.

The Backstory on me, Billie Mintz:

Seven months ago, I’d just returned from traveling across North America telling a story of financial ruin and disaster that I was not only the documentarian but also a victim and subject of the film, The Ponzi Scheme.  I showed up at McConnell broke and wondering what my next move would be.  My days as a social cause filmmaker were coming to an end; I was running out of support and couldn’t sustain myself.  My plan for ARC, a vision that I’d held for almost ten years, was fading because it didn’t seem possible anymore…  On top of all of this, I was secretly losing faith that I could do anything to make an impact, going the way I’d been going, piece by piece without proper support.  I had spent the last couple of years as a documentary filmmaker for social causes and the only money I managed to squander was recently stolen by Bradley Eisner (as documented in the Ponzi Scheme story).  I definitely was not expecting the future I was presently encountering while discussing elements of this story with Susanna.  She had seen my films and was quite excited about working with me.

What is the McConnell Foundation?

The McConnell Foundation is focused on supporting social innovation throughout Canada.  They often encourage social entrepreneurs who are having success locally or provincially and assist them in expanding their model to a national scale.

I was blown away when I began to understand exactly what McConnell did, and what they wanted me to do…  It was like everything I had set up with ARC years before was all right here under this roof, and they were actually asking ME to film this.  I was so used to convincing others that I should film social causes and that film could help better the world, and here I was in an office that had real funds to spend on people who were making a difference, and they wanted me to film the evolution in progress.  Susanna had to repeat herself because I was in a bit of shock.  She told me the basics of social innovation that had been happening all along and up until now; I was the only person I knew in my small world that cared.  I was very isolated, knocking down the wrong doors on a path that was not recognizing my vision and need for help.  I misinterpreted my results as living in a world where not enough cared, but really I was just traveling down a different isolated path where only certain people didn’t care.  In fact, it wasn’t the world that didn’t care, just the world I was in, didn’t.  And now, all of the sudden, I was in this office and saw that I was right all along, just misguided.

At one time I think I asked Susanna if I could lie down on the floor because I felt overwhelmed.  Truth and hope and faith were rushing back into my consciousness and I didn’t know how to digest it all.  Susanna was very patient with me and explained all the simple concepts that I’d been doing all along. I didn’t know the proper names and terminology.  It was a re-education and Susanna was the old mystic on the raft taking me across the river into a new world occupied by thinkers and visionaries that cared very much for the outcome of the world and humanity.  She was asking me to tell their stories and all I wanted to do was cry.  A man works his whole life with his vision as his only companion and here I was in some sort of salvation being told that everything was going to be all right.  I had a place and a people.  I belonged to something that was bigger than me and it wasn’t only me holding up this vision.  That people were doing this long before me and there was a serious movement that was as concerned as I was.  The relief in that moment that I was not alone and that I could be a part of something so big and important was the most profound moment I have had.  Susanna was their representative.  She sought out a storyteller and she found me.  That moment was definitely the beginning of a long relationship and little did I know that one day she would be running ARC with me.

ARC gets face time with Stephen Huddart

I was here to meet Stephen Huddart, VP of the McConnell Foundation.  I’d heard a lot about him from Susanna, and was excited to finally meet him. The meeting went amazing.  The stars are aligned, and I’m now able to clearly see that there is a design and we are all players in a bigger picture.  There is a big shift happening in consciousness and there is acceleration to this shift.  Listening to Stephen and seeing the reflection of my own outlook in his, reminded me that not only am I supposed to be here but that the time is upon us and that action must come now.  The planning and reflecting stages are over.   I don’t mean to sound apocalyptic but it can no longer be denied.  We see the world changing around us.  Everyone seems to be waking up.  At ARC, we are meeting with some of the largest corporations and organizations in the world and everyone seems to be on the same path.  It is a time for all groups and people to come together and work collaboratively on real change.  It is a true sign of our times that a storyteller gets to have meetings with some of the most important change-makers of the world, who are wholly dedicated and have the ability to implement change.


ARC found itself in that meeting, and glimpsed for an instant, its true purpose.  Stephen helped us realize that everything we were doing up until now was part of a bigger picture, shared by others.  It was a meeting that defined where we were in the process and how close we are to where we want to be.  It was a time of great clarity and vision.  It was a meeting of our elders and our mentors and with this new knowledge, ARC was on the right path.

The big shift is happening.  I watched Stephen come alive as he went to the board and wrote down a chart that has been brewing in his head for years.  Susanna and I marveled how similar these ideas were to our own concepts.  Great synergy was happening and I jumped up to the board myself.  I felt everything I’d learned up to now was for this collaboration, and my input was needed in the great meta strategy of being able to look at the world’s problems and identify real solutions by finding a way to share our information through collaboration.

Stephen gave us his chart and his blessings and told us to run with it.  Like a prophet, he handed down his knowledge and empowered ARC; he has now made it our mission to spread and share the doctrine with our generation and all other change makers in the world.

Watch out for things to follow.  We will soon be collaborating with some of the most inspiring changemakers we have met along our journey and co-creating a project that will enable all of us to come together in the name of change and innovative solutions to world problems.

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CSR and Transparency

Everyone has finally returned to the ARC nest.  Billie is back from Berlin and Susanna, from New York.   I couldn’t be happier – all the little chickadees safe and sound twittering away about their adventures - flapping wings and rubbing beaks.

Last Tuesday we sat down to exchange tales from our time apart.  Two themes were common to many of the stories: “honesty” and “transparency.”   These terms are, of course, relevant to business leaders as they pursue their corporate social responsibility initiatives.  And they do emerge as common themes at the CSR conferences we are attending.  But more interesting for the ARC team, is the importance of having a common comprehension of them.

When you look hard at the daily details of your life you start to uncover the tiny lies, or the bits of “conceptual honesty” that sew up a regular day.  And each one of these takes you a step away from a world that is humming with the energy of social innovation and the consciousness of a change.   And ARC is honing its hum to groove into the harmony of global change by being its CSR storytelling experts.  So, we’ve got to get it right. 

Here’s what I mean. 

Conceptual Honesty

“For those adult smokers who have made the choice to smoke, we are committed to making our best efforts to develop cigarettes that have the potential to reduce the risks of smoking.  It’s what smokers want, its what society expects and it’s the right thing to do.”

Pulled directly from the “corporate responsibility” pages of a cigarette company, this paragraph is filled with very solid examples of conceptual honesty.  The “we’re doing our best” to “potentially reduce the risks” of “your choice.”  

Not good enough.

Real Honesty

Susanna does up her first blog and it’s about the BSR conference in New York – which coincided with Obama’s victory – magical times of change anyone?  Anyway, she creates a story about her experience and there’s a problem - no visual support to go with it; no panoramic, majestic view of New York from any angle.

What transpires is a ten-minute debate about whether or not we could use someone else’s photo.  And I’m not talking about ripping off a copyrighted picture.  I mean, should we borrow a friend’s photo that is not a part of ARC?  Can we ethically pass that off as our own?  The answer, in the pursuit of transparency and honesty was NO.

Luckily, Billie had the perfect shot from the Ponzi Scheme on file.  Whew.

Real honesty – it starts in the little things, whether you are an individual or a corporation.  Those little moments when you choose to be honest, when you choose the personal risk of transparency  – a foundation begins.  And real social change builds upon that  – slowly growing into a mountainous ball of unstoppable change….

When I look around this place I see the beginning of that ball rolling from little chick to little chick….peep.

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Inside the BSR Conference in New York

On November 4th, 2008, the world changed. Hope was restored not only for millions of Americans, but for billions of people around the world. Although it has been said that the word ‘change’ was overused by Obama’s campaign, on that day, the transformation was indisputably palpable.

As a Canadian who is unable to vote in the US election, it was an incredible gift for me to have been in New York City on that fateful day. When I landed in the city on Tuesday afternoon, the atmosphere was electric. The weather was unseasonably warm for November and people were giddy on the streets. While strolling down Fifth Avenue, I overheard a man on his cell phone telling a friend that he was so excited that he “couldn’t work and left the office early” just so he could go and watch the election coverage. There was truly something in the air that day.

Watching the World Change

The next day, as the 2008 Business for Social Responsibility (BSR) Conference took off, all talk was about the consequences of Obama’s presidency for the future of the country and the field of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) on a global scale. In a room full of the top leaders of the business community both in the US and internationally, I felt as though I was in the presence of visionaries who had hope for the future. It didn’t matter whether they were Democrats or Republicans; in that room at the Grand Hyatt in New York City, there was discussion about the next level of collaboration between corporations, NGOs, foundations and supranational organizations such as the United Nations to make the world a healthier place for all of us to live and work.

One of the most prominent messages that kept coming up again and again throughout the three days of the conference is that it is no longer a viable option to keep CSR on the periphery of business activities. It needs to be incorporated into the mainstream and daily plans of organizations to ensure continuity and sustainability in their activities, but most of all to create meaningful impact for society. Throwing a wad of cash towards an issue is the old system and an outdated way of thinking. The new dialogue is around intentional collaboration towards real change.

In Conversation with Peter Senge

Peter Senge w Susanna Kislenko

To explain this idea further, Georg Kell, Executive Director of UN Global Compact, emphasized that it is now “time to invest in what connects us.” In many ways, Kell is joining the voice of creative thinkers such as Peter Senge in providing momentum for the movement towards a shift of collective consciousness. Senge’s recent book, The Necessary Revolution: How Individuals and Organizations are Working Together to Create a Sustainable World, provides successful case studies of such collaborations in action. Although the word ‘revolution’ in a political sense has often been associated with a type of surrender and uprising against the existing structure, the revolution that Senge and his co-authors are encouraging is slightly different in that it “is not about giving up; it’s about rediscovering what we most value.”

In his panel at the BSR event, Senge asked us to break up into groups and think about a hypothetical situation where we lived on an island of only 1,200 inhabitants and were brought together to create the new governing principles to ensure that this island survives and grows with only the resources that are within its confines. Most of the ideas that came out of the discussion were generally centred on cultivating integrative communication practices to encourage transparency, balance and a sense of community. One of my favourite suggestions was to make all decisions on the island thinking about not only ourselves or our children, but with the next seven generations in mind.

Within that mindframe, what choices are you making that would need to change?

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Gratitude

It’s the end of week four.   And today is Thanksgiving and I am counting my blessings.  There are many different types of families in one’s life, and I’m falling head over heels for our little ARC family. 

There’s Billie.  I call him my “revelations man.”  Not a day goes by that I fail to be astonished by some treasure from the corner of his mind, the gift of another piece of a puzzle I didn’t even know I was putting together. 

And Mark.  He’s fast becoming the backbone of organized intent. Mark is the guy that comes in dressed for success.  Where the rest of us toil over having enough time to brush our hair AND our teeth, Mark sashays in ready for business.  He puts the boundaries around the creative pulse of the rest of us.

Dougal – sweet, quiet editor of the stories that flow into our space – with his daily arrival inside a cloud of kim che.  The practice of heating this exotic addiction has been universally voted down.  No more microwaved cabbage! And Dougal complies by heating it up ahead of arrival – he’s that kind of guy.

And then beautiful Ori – the zen master of organization.  This girl smiles no matter how many boxes of paperwork lay at her feet.  She quietly wades through one receipt at a time.  Ori is an amazing and much needed addition to the family!

And that’s just the office.  In the outer rings there are the comedians and the camera people and the sound and….the list goes on. Everyday more people join the team as we work on building something that serves the world outside of ourselves.

It’s difficult to start something new, to build something that changes, something that strengthens a corner of the world.  Surely there are a lot of fits and starts and stumbles but under all of that is a rumble of excitement, the sound of rolling of a ball that we’re all pushing into unlimited success.

It takes many people to build a business, and much passion/love to grow a team.

Tomorrow I will bring tales from the business.  Today I am sitting back and counting gratitude for being a part of that.

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