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On April 20, Rep. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), Federal Communications Commission Chair Julius Genachowski and Sprint CEO Dan Hesse were on hand for the first ever Capitol Clean Tech EXPO in the Rayburn House Office Building in Washington, D.C.   The Clean Tech EXPO was held in honor of Earth Day and to showcase energy companies, non-profits and telecommunications organizations are showcasing advances in clean energy and environmentally friendly products and technology.  BetterWorld was one of the companies invited and we showcased our BetterWork initiative with great response from all who were there.

“With the clean energy technologies I have seen today, it is clear that we are on our way to moving from iPhones to ‘iHomes,’ helping to create a new economy and a healthier planet that will be sustainable, profitable and remarkable,” said Markey.

The Clean Tech EXPO, sponsored by BetterWorld customer and partner, the Clean Economy Network and CTIA, the Wireless Association, in conjunction with Rep. Markey featured BetterWorld and several leading technology companies, as well as cutting edge start-ups who demonstrated the latest in green IT, smart grid technology and energy-saving consumer electronics.

“Today’s event is an example of how corporate and government stakeholders are innovating in ways that move our nation toward a greener economy,” said Hesse. “Sprint is proud to join government, clean tech and green business leaders who are meeting the needs of consumers and the environment through improved manufacturing processes, greener product offerings, consumer-friendly recycling and reuse programs, and more.”

Kudos  to CEN, the CTIA and Chairman Markey who spearheaded the effort, it was an informative and telling example of what is coming around the bend as far as technology GreenTech and CleanTech – technologies and changes that are coming sooner than probably most realize.  We are excited to be participating in this ongoing effort with CEN, Chairman Markey and the FCC as we bring our BetterWork framework to the mainstream and lead a true telecom revolution!

Clean in D.C.,

Kim Person
First BetterBlog!

This past weekend, we had the great fortune to help sponsor and attend the latest installment of the annual William James Foundation (WJF) Sustainable Business Plan Competition.   Right out front we want to give out props to Ian Fisk who has been the driver and organizer of this competition as it has grown up over the past 7 years.  This year, the 7th Annual Competition, was hosted by BetterWorld customer Affinity Lab, who is located  in the U Street Corridor in downtown Washington, D.C.  With hudreds of judges over a period of months,  and over 100 submissions to pour through, it all boiled down to 7 winners and 7 runners up - as well as a general/overall category. For more info on the winners and prize sponsors here, and for NY Times coverage on the competition from today’s online paper, click here.

The WJF seeks to identify, promote, and support entrepreneurs who have financially viable ways of integrating social and/or environmental sustainability into a for-profit business model. The WJF seeks to spread the adoption of these sustainable business practices through either scale (via the company’s own growth) or sharing (the company can be of any size, but acts as a deliberate model to others).  For more information on the WJF and the competition process, click here.

BetterWorld sponsored the Sustainable Agriculture Prize along with the Progressive Culinary Arts Movement, which awarded $1,000 to the most innovative and viable business working to support either local living food economies or closed-loop agricultural systems.  In a very close, tough decision, top honors went to Local Orbit, an online marketplace that makes it easy for restaurants, institutions and consumers to buy food directly from local farmers, which is piloting in Ann Arbor, MI and Brooklyn, NY, with runner up, Brooklyn Victory Garden.

It was great to see many old friends in sustainability from around the D.C. area, as well as meet many new ones!  See you all next year at the 8th Annual WSJ Awards.

In service,

Matt

This week, First Lady Obama held the first ever  Workplace Flexibility Forum at the White House - with an array of speakers and corporate leadership in attendance, it is clear that there is a great deal of steam building behind this movement. If you have been following the BetterBlog and/or BetterWorld for long, you know that we have been advocating the same workplace change (less commuting, travel, more flexibility, less building/space specific activity) through our BetterWork framework, which we developed in concert with the Bainbridge Graduate Institute in 2008/2009.

Some excerpts from President Obama’s closing remarks to the group: “Plenty of workers — both women and men — wish they could go back to school so they can beef up their skills and advance their careers.  And there are plenty of communities that desperately need the new jobs we can create when we embrace teleworking and mobile workplaces.

And as for how this issue affects companies’ bottom lines, a report by the White House Council of Economic Advisers that we’re releasing today found that companies with flexible work arrangements can actually have lower turnover and absenteeism, and higher productivity, and healthier workers.

So let’s be clear:  Workplace flexibility isn’t just a women’s issue.  It’s an issue that affects the well-being of our families and the success of our businesses.  It affects the strength of our economy — whether we’ll create the workplaces and jobs of the future we need to compete in today’s global economy.

And ultimately, it reflects our priorities as a society — our belief that no matter what each of us does for a living, caring for our loved ones and raising the next generation is the single most important job that we have.  I think it’s time we started making that job a little easier for folks.

Many of you here represent companies and workplaces that are already doing just that — embracing telecommuting, flextime, compressed work weeks, job sharing, flexible start and end times, and helping your employees generally find quality childcare and eldercare.  And if you’re doing this not just because it’s the right thing to do, but because you’ve found that what’s good for your workers and is good for your families can be good for your bottom lines and your shareholders as well, then you need to spread the word.”

Bravo President and First Lady Obama, this is exactly the kind of public advocacy that we need if work is going to change - - this is what we are all about at BetterWorld, helping to ignite a revolution in how we work in this country and beyond.  It was great to celebrate with the team from BGI who helped us develop the BetterWork framework, as the emails went around this week after the forum was held, another important source of validation for the great work that our team did last year.  For more information on BetterWork: www.BetterWorkToday.com

Let’s change work today!

Matt