CSR, TBL, TNS, GREEN, SUSTAINABLE, LEED, FSC, GRI – These are all acronyms that somehow relate to how Rejuvenation does business in relation to our surroundings. “It” can be called our environmental efforts and can just as easily be called our community effort, or our employee and customer effort.
Like any growing movement the “Sustainability” movement is rapidly evolving and organizations of all sizes are constantly trying to negotiate their way through changes in language and best practices — and Rejuvenation is no exception. What we do know is that there is not OTW — ONE TRUE WAY — but that individuals within our organization look across the field to see what can be applied to how we do business and what can help us do everything better. Everything? Eventually, yes, everything but we prioritize what we work on annually.
Basically, our approach to CSR (corporate social responsibility) is one based on the notion of a triple bottom line (TBL) which, in essence, states that in order to have a truly profitable bottom line aspects of economics must be balanced with impacts on the environment and its inhabitants. Bonus acronym of PPP is profit, planet, people.
Environmental certifications have different values for us. For example, so far we have chosen not to pursue LEED certification for our buildings at this point (although we can certainly talk about it) but opt in to sourcing our medicine cabinets to use Forest Stewardship Council certified hard wood. We voluntarily measure, set target reductions and offset our carbon emissions, but choose not to pay a premium to purchase wind energy from our local utility. We are moving toward a Global Reporting Initiative report but for the time being have focused on internal communication to get more folks across the company interested in our efforts.
Fundamentally, we use our company core values, common sense, principles of The Natural Step® and lean manufacturing as guiding principles. We leverage the expertise of others, and try and share what we have learned. We make advancements and also mistakes.
My blog posts will focus on these broad sustainability efforts within the company, so if you see or read something you specifically want more info about let me know. Otherwise I will just keep on keeping on (KOKO).