Despite their best intentions, many individuals still find it difficult to make environmentally-conscious decisions. Whether out of convenience or lack of incentive, people often fail to adopt the practices that by now are common knowledge – utilizing alternative transportation, changing their diet, and turning off the air conditioning. Given how challenging it is to change the habits of individual members of society, one might assume that doing the same at the institutional level is near impossible. In reality, reducing a business's environmental impact is not only very possible, but financially beneficial as well.

Enter Will Richardson. Will is the managing director of Green Element, a consultancy agency that helps businesses rectify their environmental shortcomings and at the same time reduce expenses. Combining new analytical tools, innovative office technology, and sound financial advice, Green Element provides businesses with practical solutions for their particular environmental goals. Hear why improving a business's environmental sustainability is, as Will puts it, a 'no-brainer.'

In this episode:

+ Will's simple recipe for sustainability: understand where you are and what you're doing. Only from there can you develop and execute a good plan.

+ Learn how Green Element 'practices what it preaches' by going paperless and using alternative transportation to reach clients

+ Green Element's recent project Compare Your Footprint, the world's first comprehensive online carbon footprint calculator

+ Will's future plan to create an exchange network for environmental job-seekers and charities

+ Why psychology, not necessarily money or time, is a significant obstacle to achieving sustainability

+ Will tells us about his business role models, and why company loyalty is an essential resource

Despite their best intentions, many individuals still find it difficult to make environmentally-conscious decisions. Whether out of convenience or lack of incentive, people often fail to adopt the practices that by now are common knowledge – utilizing alternative transportation, changing their diet, and turning off the air conditioning. Given how challenging it is to change the habits of individual members of society, one might assume that doing the same at the institutional level is near impossible.

As the world becomes more globalized, and as science continues to challenge our perceptions, we gain new insights into the fundamental interconnectedness of just about everything – people, environment, energy, climate, culture, information. In particular, the web of relationships surrounding business and the economy is astoundingly complex and significant. So why are most businesses internally organized as if relationships don't matter?

Alastair Mitchell-Baker has something to say about that. Alastair is founding director of Tricordant, a consultancy that for the past 12 years has helped a wide array of companies get organized and take practical steps towards long-term sustainability. His secret to organizational success? Get employees involved and on board. As Alastair himself has said, "When people help come up with solutions, they support them in a way that they don't if somebody else tells them what to do."

In this episode:

+ Practicing what you preach: Tricordant's path to becoming both carbon neutral and a B-corporation

+ Why Tricordant has no central office, and how the work-from-home model is an important and increasingly popular step towards reducing environmental impact

+ The untapped power of employee engagement and autonomy, and how increasing productivity starts with honest conversation and an open ear.

+ Whole systems thinking: understanding the interrelationships between people, technology, and environment at all levels of an organization.

+ Alastair shares his African inspirations, a man and a mountain.

+ Why effective and sustainable business organization is essentially cooperative and diffuse, NOT top-to-bottom

+ Alastair's recommended techniques and resources for increasing employee engagement

As the world becomes more globalized, and as science continues to challenge our perceptions, we gain new insights into the fundamental interconnectedness of just about everything – people, environment, energy, climate, culture, information. In particular, the web of relationships surrounding business and the economy is astoundingly complex and significant. So why are most businesses internally organized as if relationships don’t matter?

The best things in life are free. Besides family and friendship, many people would put their experiences with nature near the top of the list. But is nature truly free, or can it actually be assigned a dollar value? Increasingly, ecologists and conservationists are stressing the need to quantify the services that nature provides. A real understanding of this value – now estimated to be in the tens of trillions of dollars, globally – may be the key to changing the way governments, corporations, and individuals view the natural environment.

Alison Holt, the director of Natural Capital Solutions, draws on her diverse experience as a researcher, consultant, and organizer to educate people about 'natural capital.' By couching the value of nature in financial terms, businesses and policy-makers can more easily grasp the concept and make meaningful changes towards sustainability and environmental responsibility. Hear Alison explain the ins-and-outs of natural capital, and how we can apply it to real-life situations.

In this episode:

+ Learn why putting a price tag on natural services is not only essential for environmental protection, but also for the resilience of individual businesses and the economy at large

+ Alison explains the relationship between natural capital and ecosystem services through an easy to comprehend financial analogy

+ How an understanding of natural capital can help businesses operate both more efficiently and more sustainably

+ Why all businesses, including those with no obvious connection to land use, have a shared responsibility to manage natural capital

+ Recommendations for how businesses can incorporate natural capital into their decision-making process

+ Alison's personal story of growing up in the suburbs and finding inspiration in nature

The best things in life are free. Besides family and friendship, many people would put their experiences with nature near the top of the list. But is nature truly free, or can it actually be assigned a dollar value? Increasingly, ecologists and conservationists are stressing the need to quantify the services that nature provides.

Work with nature, or work against it. That is the fundamental choice underlying not only our treatment of the planet, but also the performance of our social and financial institutions. Are we so deep in the trap of consumerism that we can't back out? Will we go down with a sinking ship? Perhaps the solution to our sustainability woes is not a technological miracle or political revolution, but rather a simple change in attitude.

Gwyn Jones certainly thinks so. Now the director of the Association of Sustainability Practitioners, Gwyn's mission is to change your attitude towards sustainability. Bringing together his passions for community development, environmental awareness, and purpose-led business, he presents an alternative to the status quo that is both ambitious and rooted in practicality.

In this episode:

+ Why Gwyn left his high-power career in the computing industry, and how he re-discovered his life's passion

+ How the circular economy model can replace consumerism, and actually help – rather than hurt – business

+ The important lessons can we take from nature, and how we can effectively apply them to social and economic issues.

+ How the old business model of maximizing profit is inherently unsustainable and fails to maximize true value for all shareholders

+ The idea of a multi-faceted sustainability that includes social and intellectual capital, as well as the natural environment.

+ Alternatives to charity: ways that businesses can give back real value to their communities

+ How to develop mindfulness and discover what is truly important through meditation and interacting with nature

+ Gwyn's latest project, Growing Community, and its goal of helping children find their innate talents

Work with nature, or work against it. That is the fundamental choice underlying not only our treatment of the planet, but also the performance of our social and financial institutions. Are we so deep in the trap of consumerism that we can’t back out? Will we go down with a sinking ship? Perhaps the solution to our sustainability woes is not a technological miracle or political revolution, but rather a simple change in attitude.

The term "survival of the fittest" is often used when discussing our current economic system. Indeed, while the financial world can appear "red in tooth and claw," there's more to life than competition. Cooperation, while overlooked and difficult to quantify, remains a powerful economic force. A new generation of innovators are using cooperative principles to bridge the gap between charity and business.

Bonnie Chiu is one such innovator. Her company, TSIC, recognizes that the non-profit and for-profit sectors can not only work together, but learn from one another. Moreover, charities can become more resilient by modelling themselves after businesses and finding alternatives to traditional fundraising. Likewise, businesses can become more socially-conscious by taking cues from charity.

In this episode:

+ How Bonnie is blurring the line between the for-profit and nonprofit sectors, and why it's a win-win situation

+ TSIC's innovative strategies for pinpointing an organization's key strengths and maximizing their social and financial impact

+ Why young workers are increasingly motivated by their sense of purpose rather than money, and how that's changing the corporate environment

+ Choosing sustainability: looking back at the 2008 financial crisis and interpreting current trends

+ The unrecognized power of entrepreneurs within non-profits, and how we can help them realize their potential

+ Bonnie's personal story of resilience, optimism, and finding yourself through nature

The term “survival of the fittest” is often used when discussing our current economic system. Indeed, while the financial world can appear “red in tooth and claw,” there’s more to life than competition.