Part 2 of 2: Retrospective On Our Renovations

Photo Credit: 2 Miles

June 16th, 2012
Claire McEachern

In a relaxed and calm voice, mixed with hints of jest, Van Jones greeted the assembled crowd by saying, "I may be preaching to the green choir, but I want to brag a little bit…"

From the Bainbridge Graduate Institute’s recent MBA recipients, to the local green industry veterans, such as Energy Trust, the Sustainable Industries Economic Forum (held June 13th, 2012, in Portland, OR) brought together a keenly interested and progressive audience. Every eye and ear was poised, anxiously awaiting a story of success. One could almost hear the mental buzz of global news, tweets, timeline updates, blog posts, and RSS feeds spooning out messages of doom and gloom into our collective sub-conscious.

Let us not forget to mention that Mr. Jones was also there to promote his new book: Rebuilding the Dream.

He began by reminding us how representatives in DC use the term “job killers” for environmentalists. But the statistics from the past several years show a very different reality. According to Brookings Institute, the green economy has created over 2.4 million jobs and includes the fastest growing sectors. This is in despite of a bad economy and a politically “stuck” world.

Curious then, that there still remains division within the United States and around the world on whether or not to fully embrace and integrate the green economy. How does this division persist when even the most skeptical among us have recently been heard to say, “The weather wasn’t quite like this before…”

Intro: Retrospective On Our Renovations

Before embarking on a trip to Dublin, Ireland, to plan for the rescheduled SustaiNext|EU Summit (October 11 & 12), we thought we'd publish a 2 part series that has us pondering the upcoming trip. How far has this 'green economy' come in the last 3 years. How is its implementation different in the international scene than here in the US? Who will we meet and what perspective will they give us?

Over the next week we plan on sharing thought in those areas and to introduce those queries are these essays. One composed three years ago and the others completed now in the present space and time of June 16th, 2012. Below is a bit more on the source of these writing....

When we saw that Van Jones would speak in Portland, OR for the Sustainable Industries Economic Forum, we gladly shelled out a couple bucks to go see him speak.

A Little Exercise In Character Development

Well, we thought we would share the latest update on a side project: Mac 'N Cheesesteak PDX.

Before we start the real blogging and review of Portland's cheesesteak and mac 'n cheese dishes (we have about 5 reviews waiting in the wings), we have to create the foundation content for the site. On www.macncheesesteakpdx.blogspot.com, that foundation consists of the personification of the individual subjects (i.e. food items) and their cultural context in the societies that embrace them. Yes, we do mean the Psychology, Anthropology, and Sociology of these American food icons.

So far, we've infused our observations of both Philadelphia and Portland attitudes into the characters. We have also provided a "literature review" on the relevant culinary backgrounds of our subjects. No, this research will not stand up up to IRB Standards but it sure is interesting and informative nonetheless. It also provides some great factoids for social gatherings and water-cooler talk.

What's next on this project? Putting together the logic and data sets for the Metrics & Benchmarking section of the site. This will be used to judge each dish according to an established standard. We hope that the aggregated data will be (1) amusing, (2) informative for the culinarily inclined and (3) showcase how to create, organize, and interpret everyday statistics.

2 Miles Returns

Greetings!

After a year-long hiatus, we are happy to announce that we are reviving 2 Miles!

What is 2 Miles?

It is focused on helping organizations develop their sustainability efforts. We use an approach that integrates all aspects of the Triple Bottom Line (TBL). We also believe that no matter what stage of implementing Corporate Responsibility Strategy (CSR) your business finds itself in, a healthy dose of integrated planning and benchmarking is necessary to achieving your goals. We've found a great tool called, S-CORE™ (developed by our friends at Axis Performance Advisors), that provides a standardized way to assess your current efforts, outlines a plan for the future, and compares your progress to other organizations.

Want to learn more?

Send us an email at 2MilesConsulting@gmail.com or call us at 443.980.5387.

Cheers,

The 2 Miles Crew