Green Your IT

As outlined in the article, "Nine ways IT can help organizations 'go green' and reduce paper consumption," from ZDNet, there are simple ways organizations can modify their existing IT practices to decrease waste and increase their "green" commitment.

In short, the recommendations are:

1) Use business analytics software

2) Re-align business processes

3) Move business tasks to an electronic format

4) Monitor and regulate printing

5) Eliminate unnecessary printing of documents

6) Review software code - online

7) Increase Data Center capacity

8) Introduce collaboration tools

9) Use mobile devices

For more, be sure to check out the article here. Thanks to Rumneek for passing along!

Financial Recovery & Climate Change

Passed on by Christy, the December issue of the IMF's newsletter Finance & Development, features a few pieces on the stimulation of a green recovery and on climate policy in hard economic times. An important take-away: actions must be balanced to both mitigate climate change and encourage growth and future prosperity.

It is certainly worth a read: December 2009 IMF F&D Issue

Make a Positive Impact this Holiday Season!

This holiday season, focus on the three main areas below to make a positive impact.

• Give sustainable gifts. Treehugger's 2009 Gift Guide is a great place to start. Consider spending time with friends and family as well as exploring the options below:
  * Give a microloan from Kiva.org or MicroPlace
  * Donate three bed nets from Malaria No More for $30
  * Help an entrepreneur or family with Heifer International - a $20 donation can buy someone a flock of geese
  * Support social and economic justice and buy Fair Trade Goods from Global Exchange, World of Good, and Fair Trade Federation Members.
  * Donate to your favorite nonprofit. We can think of one in particular that would love your support.
  
  
• Reduce holiday waste. Purchase biodegradable flatware and utensils and LED Christmas bulbs that use 80-90% less energy than incandescents for office events. Check out this great column from Grist.org for more ideas.  
  
  
• Give back to your community. From helping out at a local homeless shelter to hosting a gift exchange for families in need, volunteering can be a team building exercise that allows you and your colleagues to give back during the holiday season. For a short-term project consider the resources of organizations such as Points of Light and VolunteerMatch. If you're interested in something more long-term, consider working with your local Net Impact Chapter and joining or helping start a Service Corps or Board Fellows program in your local area.

I am sure there are many more ways we can have positive impact this holiday season.  What are you doing to make a difference?

Green Building Code in the Works

The development of a national green building code to guide the planning and construction of green commercial buildings in the U.S. is underway. Building codes typically cover a host of issues as related to a structure's reliability. A green building code would do the same, but from a more global perspective - considering "the health, safety and welfare of the planet."

Pennsylvania is one of only two states with a government representative on the 28-member drafting body. A final version of the code is expected to be adopted in late 2011.

Attention Temple Students: share or find a ride!

Need a ride? Want to offer a ride?

Log onto Temple's online "Need-a-ride" forum to find fellow students commuting throughout Philly and the surrounding suburbs.

Currently there are more than 4,100 Temple community members participating.

This holiday season, reduce your food packaging waste.

As we approach the busy holiday season, this post from GOOD reminds us to consider the packaging waste resulting from our food choices.

In short, awareness of your actions is the first step. From there, try to choose items that are free of packaging, or wrapped in paper or glass. It is that easy to control the amount of waste you contribute!

Learning a thing or two about CSR in big companies from Dave Stangis

On November 3, Fox School of Business's Net Impact chapter - Fox Net Impact - was privileged to host a talk by Dave Stangis, the Vice President of Corporate Social Responsibility and Sustainability at Campbell Soup Company. Dave is relatively new at Campbell's, having priorly been at Intel for 12 years where he created and led the Corporate Responsibility function there. Dave is responsible for leading Campbell’s overarching CSR/Sustainability strategy and for overseeing the development of CSR goals, policies and programs for the company. Since becoming the head of Campbell Soup's CSR initatives, Dave has endeavored to prove that CSR and a successful business strategy are not mutually exclusive.

Dave's speech and the discussion that followed was engaging and interesting. It gave the Fox students who attended the event rare insight into how a large company like Campbell's is making CSR a more serious part of its overall business plan. CSR is now one of Campbell's seven main strategies connected to its overall mission. Its strong focus on CSR is designed to give it a particularly innovative approach to business operation that that builds employee engagement, improves environmental performance, and creates positive social impacts. All of this, Dave is convinced, creates business advantage and makes Campbell's more competitive within its industry.

One of the most striking comments was made during Dave's story about how he got his current job. A lot of the push for a stronger emphasis on CSR and Sustainability at Campbell's actually came from the firm's CEO, Douglas Conant. Doug strongly believes that it is the responsibility of a large company like Campbell Soup to give back to the people and communities that buy and create its products. It was through Doug's leadership and vision that the VP of CSR and Sustainability position was created in the first place. The message from this is clear - it often takes strong leadership from the top of large companies to make CSR a priority. Mr. Conant's forward-looking decisions about CSR's place at Campbell's and Mr. Stangis's strong leadership will no doubt pay off in better long-term operational efficiencies, cost reductions, faster innovation, and stronger relationships with customers and consumers. With exemplary results like these, Campbell Soup will put even more pressure on its competition as well as the larger business community to reexamine their attitudes towards CSR.

To learn more about Fox Net Impact, visit our Facebook Fan Page!

MBAs and Social Entrepreneurship

I just read an interesting article in the New York Times about MBA students shifting from investment banking and consulting jobs to social entrepreneurship. Given the current economy, students are looking beyond the "get-rich" positions and seeking positions that will also benefit society. Business schools are developing programs in response to the growing desire to combine personal gain and social benefit. In fact, the Fox School of Business and Management at Temple University is offering a course on Social Entrepreneurship in the Spring 2010 semester. The seminar will explore the central challenges raised by the possibility of managing for more than just profit.

Green your Halloween!

The article, "Turn Halloween from orange to green" from Philly.com illustrates a couple of ways we can control the disposable results of today's holiday. First, try to cut down on the number of candy wrappers you give out to visiting trick-or-treaters. At your local shop, look for options that minimize packaging waste or consider giving out alternatives, such as produce. Sure, kids would prefer the sweet stuff but they will appreciate your efforts in the long-run!

Secondly, skip the elaborate store-bought costumes this year. Look to make your own or to swap with a friend! The third suggestion is to cut down on the number of decorations you use to adorn your home. Look for reusable items and skip the energy-consuming fog machine and strobe lights.

Applying these easy tips will ensure a guilt-free, fun and inexpensive Halloween.

Happy Halloween!

Volunteering at MANNA

I was one of the volunteers at MANNA a couple of weeks back and this post is about my experience there. MANNA prepares and delivers free, nutritional meals to people who have life-threatening diseases through its dedicated staff and thousands of volunteers. We were a group of 8 Fox School of Business students. Prudence, a first year MBA student joined the 2nd year class, which was represented by Bill, Rich, Mike Hammer, William, Renee, Josh, and me. We reached MANNA at around 1 PM and were received by a MANNA worker, who explained to us what MANNA does and how important its volunteers are to its operations. She also explained to us other fund-raising events that MANNA organizes.

We were told that we would be making beef sandwiches, which were to be given to people with HIV and other life-threatening illnesses . We went to the kitchen, washed our hands and then put on the disposable plastic gloves and hat and started making the sandwiches. We were told to stuff the beef in
 between the breads and then wrap it in a foil and place it in a rack. Our quota for the day was supposed to be around 750 sandwiches. Renee, Bill, and William were stuffing the bread with beef, Josh, Rich, and Prudence put them into the tin foils, Hammer and I stuck the labels on each of them. We were packing the food so fast that often we found ourselves waiting for more labels and racks. We were also having good fun chatting while doing the work.

We completed packing nearly a thousand sandwiches that day. Just knowing the fact that we were volunteering for a great cause made it a memorable day. Thanks to Josh for organizing this event, and all the other volunteers who made it a day to remember. The event reinforced the fact that time is the most generous gift that you can give your fellow human being as it enriches those who receive it, without making poorer those who give. If you would like to learn more about volunteering at MANNA
please visit www.mannapa.org

Fox Net Impact in Lancaster News

Fox Net Impact's work in Lancaster is documented in Lancaster News

Tree Planing in Lancaster

How to plant a chestnut tree...

1.  Get a chestnut tree seedling

2.  Dig a shallow hole and a tunnel for the radical root

3.  Lightly pack the radical root in the ground, slightly covering the nut

4.  Can you see the nut?

Tom doing an excellent job planting a chestnut tree seedling in the ground.  Maybe it will grow into a beautiful tree!

All of us planting chestnuts!

Plant, Jacky, Plant!

Job well done for Fox Net Impact members!

Check us out for more volunteer events!