Sustainability
Speakers addressing this issue describe their work and ideas about innovative solutions for a sustainable world. Their conclusion? The modern era's global environmental footprint may not lead to societal collapse after all.
Stanford multidisciplinary approach benefits: 
Video File, (3:51 minutes, RealPlayer® format)
Recent Conferences and Speakers
Demand for Green Buildings Grows at Stanford
Speakers told an alumni conference how Stanford University is fighting global warming with plans for greener buildings. Ambitious plans are underway to construct more buildings on campus that use fewer resources and don’t release as many harmful greenhouse gases. (January 2008)
Who Should Tell the Global Warming Story?
Global warming and environmental deterioration has not played a major role in the 2008 U.S. Presidential Campaign. Journalists and environmentalists at a Business School panel discussion debated just why this issue isn’t higher on the national agenda. (January 2008)
Social Responsibility Is Now a Business Imperative, Says Roberts of World Wildlife Fund
“Companies still thinking about the environment as a social responsibility rather than a business imperative are living in the dark ages,” Carter Roberts, CEO and chief conservation officer of the World Wildlife Fund, told the audience at the Business School’s annual von Gugelberg Memorial Environmental Lecture.
Socially and Environmentally Responsible Supply Chains Inaugural Conference: Making the Business Case
On the day after the Supreme Court handed down a landmark decision allowing the Environmental Protection Agency to regulate carbon dioxide emissions, more than 200 corporate and academic supply chain management experts gathered at the Stanford Graduate School of Business to exchange ideas and best practices aimed at making the global supply chain more sustainable. (April 3, 2007)
Preparing Environment Conscious Leaders: Bill Barnett
If sustainability is to be woven into all human activities, tomorrow's leaders will be required to understand how their organization interacts with its environment. Bill Barnett looks at the new leadership challenges facing executives in business, government, and nonprofit organizations with an environmental purpose. Barnett now offers the first of its kind executive education leadership program designed to advance environmental responsibility across sectors. 
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Lens of Sustainability: Andy Ruben and Jib Ellison, Wal-Mart
In 2005, Wal-Mart's CEO announced a corporation-wide strategic initiative to go green. The company would take drastic measures to cut down on the waste, energy consumption, and greenhouse gas emission, thus saving money, which would be passed on to the customer. This new perspective was named the Lens of Sustainability, and a new chair was appointed to spearhead the effort. Andrew Ruben, VP for corporate strategy and sustainability, and Jib Ellison founder of Blu Skye Sustainability Consulting, Wal-Mart's sustainability partner, explain why Wal-Mart is engaging in sustainability. Listen Now
The Climate of Capital Change part I: Social Entrepreneurs, Personal Pathways
What do these people have in common: a leader of a multi-billion-dollar private equity fund, a dot-com carbon cowboy, and one of the original Schwab social entrepreneurs? They are all harnessing business to build a better world. Paul Fletcher, senior partner of Actis; Dan Whaley, founder and CEO of Climos; and Nic Frances, founder and chairman of Easy Being Green, give us glimpse of what it takes to be a social entrepreneur. Listen Now
The Climate of Capital Change part II: Funding a Cleaner World
What is the single most important change we will see in business and capital markets? Join Paul Fletcher, Nic Frances, Divesh Makan, Robert Rubenstein, Toni E. Symonds, and Bryan L. Martel as they share their perspectives on climate change and the role of entrepreneurs and the private sector in building a better world. Listen Now
Let My People Go Surfing: Yvon Chouinard, Patagonia
Patagonia Inc. founder and owner, Yvon Chouinard, offered his Stanford audience a slew of counterintuitive business practices that have helped make his apparel company a success. (October 2006) Listen Now
Global Warming: Carole Browner, formerly with EPA
If we fail to halt global warming, we'll be the first generation that bequeathed to the next generation a problem that can't be fixed, says Carol Browner, former chief of the Environmental Protection Agency. In this presentation from the Center for Social Innovation at Stanford, she warns that no engineer in the world could reverse the rise in sea levels once it starts to happen. She urges her audience to seek nonpartisan, business-friendly solutions to the looming crisis. Listen Now
Starbucks Reinvents International Coffee Trade: Dennis Macray
How is Starbucks, the United States' leading coffee retailer, reshaping its business practices and reinventing the international coffee trade? Dennis Macray, Starbucks' vice president of corporate social responsibility, describes the company's sustainability practices to Stanford MBA students who were preparing for a service-learning trip to Guatemala. Listen Now
How Do You Take Your Coffee? John Sage, Pura Vida
You will never think about your cup of coffee the same way again after hearing John Sage speak. Combining his idealism with a genuine love of business, Sage co-founded Pura Vida, one of the largest distributors of Fair Trade organic coffee in the world, to improve the lives of people in coffee-growing regions. Pura Vida works at the intersection of the for-profit and nonprofit sectors, showing how the two can be blended to generate both revenues and social good. Invited by the Center for Social Innovation at Stanford, Sage tells his story to an audience of MBA students. Listen Now
Organic Industry Pioneers Say Business Can and Must Be Part of the Solution
Two pioneers of the organic food industry say a growing awareness of global warming and other issues is making corporate America eager to get into markets once not taken seriously. Details
Video File, (1:04 hour, RealPlayer® format)
The HP Way Only Sounds Simple, Says Vyomesh Joshi
Leadership at Hewlett-Packard puts business first, people second, and managers' egos third, Vyomesh Joshi, executive vice president of the firm's imaging and printing group, told a conference audience. Details Video File, (1:12 hour, RealPlayer® format)
Environmental Conservation
Amory B. Lovins, CEO and co-founder of the Rocky Mountain Institute, and Will Rogers, president of the Trust for Public Lands, discuss their business strategies for making a positive impact on the environment. Lovins' focus is on the United States' oil dependence while making a profit; Rogers' is on conservation finance and how to work successfully with business and governments for land conservation.
Video File, (1:22 hour, RealPlayer® format)
Eco-Friendly Buildings Enhance Health and May Save Money
Spending more to install big windows to capture heat from the sun or installing green plants to help detoxify waste material is not just a feel-good gesture, speakers told the conference audience. They may save money or improve productivity. Details
Green Skies for Renewable Energy
Wind, solar, and other renewable energy sources have reached the critical mass to begin appearing in the U.S. energy portfolio, speakers told a conference audience at the Stanford Graduate School of Business.
Details
Clean Products: Environmental Design and Materials Use
As businesses become more accountable for the entire life cycle of their products, environmental design and materials use are rising to the top of corporate agendas. Speakers: Jill Kauffman Johnson, Chemical Strategies Partnership; Ayn Lavagnino, Hewlett-Packard; and Tim Taylor, Environmental Home Center.
Video File, (1:03 hour, RealPlayer® format)
Tradable Markets: The Role of Free Market Solutions
Are market-based solutions to environmental problems effective? Panelists discuss how these markets are working today and their prospects for reducing environmental challenges. Speakers: Lenny Hoshschild, Evolution Markets; Kellee James, Chicago Climate Exchange; and Steve McDougal, 3 Phases Energy.
Audio File, (53:23 minutes, RealPlayer® format)
Greening of the Supply Chain: Patagonia and the Organic Exchange
Patagonia and Organic Exchange have gone through a process to incorporate organic cotton into their product lines as well as other steps in sustainable product manufacturing. Speakers: Randy Howard, Patagonia; and Rebecca Calahan Klein, Organic Exchange. Video File, (1:01 hour, RealPlayer® format)
The Role of the Capital Markets in Green Companies
As demand for green companies increases, where will these innovative firms find financial backing to pursue their goals and how will initial investment affect their future success? Speakers: Rob Day, Expansion Capital Partners; David Dreessen, Nth Power; and Sanjay Wagle, VantagePoint Venture Partners. Audio File, (1:19 hour, RealPlayer® format)
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Simply Reducing Waste Is Not Good Enough
Green design advocate Michael Braungart calls on manufacturers to eliminate environmentally harmful materials altogether. "Less bad is no good," he told a Stanford Business School audience. Details
Audio Program, (1 hour, RealPlayer® format)
Presentation Slides
Energy Could Be a 21st-Century Boom Industry
The search for alternative energy sources could rival the Internet boom of the 1990s in terms of opportunities for investors and entrepreneurs, a speaker told the inaugural Stanford Business School Energy Conference. Details
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US Business Council for Sustainable Development Conference
The conference provided a forum for members to engage with Stanford University and special guests from industry, non-profit, and governmental sectors to share knowledge about sustainable practices, and seek opportunities to demonstrate the viability of those practices in real-world business applications. Details
Conference program
Video File, Supply Chain Innovations session, (34:01 minutes,
RealPlayer® format) Video File, Q&A session, (18:04 minutes, RealPlayer® format)
Beetles, Snails, and Squirrels Can Help Humans Solve Design Problems
Science writer and author Janine Benyus urged an overflow Stanford Business School audience to look to the world of nature for ways to cool buildings, collect water in the desert, keep pipes from clogging with scale, and manage air traffic. Details