What makes APWA doubly great is that they place such a strong emphasis on sustainability. Their 2009-2014 five-year strategic plan states, “We recognize that building sustainable communities is the greatest challenge to public works in the twenty-first century. We are committed to promote and support our members’ continuing efforts to advance sustainability in their communities and to ensure that our organization embodies sustainability in its operation as well.” Their vision also incorporates the development of an actual brick and mortar Center for Sustainability.

We recently had the good fortune to discover more about the Arizona chapter of APWA. The chapter celebrated its annual state conference and awards show, in association with the Arizona Recycling Coalition, on August 4^th,, for which we proudly provided the award plaques. Arizona has one of the largest APWA chapters in the nation with nearly 1,000 members and is an example of environmental leadership. Their conference and awards show, held at the LEED silver-rated Phoenix Convention Center, diverted 94% of their waste from the landfill, according to Deirdre Booth, Chair of the Arizona APWA Awards Committee. She was also excited to tell me about one of their award recipients, who won statewide recognition for environmental excellence.

Bill Mattingly, Director of the Peoria Public Works and Utilities Department, received the Charles Nichols Award for Environmental Excellence for transforming Peoria, AZ into a recycling, LEED-certified, water-harvesting, energy-saving and sustainability-educating phenomenon—a shining example of the possibilities in sustainable development. According to Jesse Duarte, who nominated Bill, “Through his leadership…The City of Peoria Public Works Department has chosen to demonstrate through its own actions that sustainable development is both feasible and financially viable within the City of Peoria.”

Under Mr. Mattingly’s watch (only since 2007), Peoria instituted curbside recycling and created recycling initiatives in 80% of the city’s multi-family dwellings, annually diverting 16,000 tons of waste from the landfill; replaced lighting in parks, streetlamps, office buildings, and parking lots, with an expected electricity usage reduction of 70 percent; oversaw the construction of the city’s first LEED-certified building (silver level), leading to a commitment to make all future civic buildings LEED-certified; installed the city’s first solar panels on a water-treatment plant, guaranteeing a savings of 26% of annual energy consumption for the plant; and collaborated with a neighboring city to harvest surface water for potable purposes, rather than depend solely on groundwater—a logical step forward for such a thirsty state.

Upon hearing of Bill Mattingly’s tireless efforts to reduce, reuse, recycle, and inspire, we were only too pleased to have been a part of the huge thanks that he so deserves. We hope that this story inspires others to recognize their own local unsung heroes, and to become civic pioneers themselves. And while they may say they do it out of the goodness of their hearts, we know it doesn’t hurt to see their name etched across a designer earth-friendly plaque in special recognition.

2010 marks the 5th consecutive year that Rivanna has created awards for IMEX, the world’s largest trade show for the meetings & events industry. Together with the Green Meeting Industry Council (GMIC), IMEX runs the only Green Awards program for the industry.

Rivanna is thrilled to support this dynamic industry. We value the bottom-up growth of business that meetings facilitate, and green meetings in particular add a dimension of community involvement well in line with our own community-building business objectives.

The meetings industry is enormous; according to Meetingsnet.com, a study in 2009 found that business travel in the US alone marks $246 billion per year in spending and 2.3 million American jobs depend on it. And a report by Californiagreensolutions.com says, “The hospitality industry is second only to the construction industry in waste generated.” When you factor in each attendee’s travel footprints and meeting materials, and the conference center’s set-up materials, the meetings industry begins to look like a resource-guzzling, pollution-spewing behemoth. But even just a few small planning adjustments can make a huge difference, and save mounds of money.

A 2004 white paper by the Convention Industry Council gives myriad examples of saving both resources and money. “For example, if a five-day event serves 2200 people breaks, breakfasts, lunches and receptions using china instead of plastic disposables, it prevents 1,890 lbs. of plastic from going into a landfill. That’s nearly one ton!” Meanwhile, “collecting name badge holders for reuse at an event of 1300 attendees can save approximately $975 for the event organizer.” Clearly, green meetings make sense.

Face Reality

Meetings, green or otherwise, provide the direct contact on which so much business is built. According to a recent DMAI (Destination Marketing Association International) survey of meeting planners and industry leaders,

• Face-to-face meetings build trust and relationships;
• Both education and training are more effective in a live setting;
• Live meetings actually save time and money;
• Live meetings facilitate problem solving through a more effective exchange of ideas;
• Face-to-face meetings provide the human connection that powers business;
• Face-to-face meetings create jobs and power the economy.

Green meetings in particular facilitate the grass-roots growth of business partnerships because the social welfare of participants as well as the hosts is often built into the meeting agenda. Examples include charitable donations (often including community service) to the host country, themed competitions for attendees in which the beneficiaries of the competition are charities, and ongoing charitable fundraising after the event has concluded. More often than not, structured team-building exercises allow event attendees to get their hands dirty building something tangible for the local host site.

Cultivate the Bottom Line

Unlike many green awards shows that focus simply on an innovation that may save a ton of carbon or a kilowatt of electricity (wonderful achievements to be sure!), IMEX’s Green Awards also puts the social wealth of business under the spotlight, particularly the Commitment to the Community award.

According to social scientist Philip Ball in his award-winning book Critical Mass (Arrow Books 2005), “The firms that do best are not those that aim to make the most profit. Rather, longevity in a company stems from being able to attract and retain productive workers…If the employees suffer from the profit motive, so does the firm (pp. 334, 5).” In other words, take care of the social welfare of the business and profits take care of themselves.

At Rivanna, we are well aware of the mutual benefit of cultivating relationships with clients, suppliers, the local community and other industry members. Building community is virtually what our business is all about; it creates a wealth that goes far beyond mere profits. Helping to resettle refugees, volunteering for community building and clean-up projects, and donating certain proceeds to a Tanzanian aid organization are just a few of the projects that make our work worthwhile.

IMEX 2010 Gala Dinner. Green Meetings Award Gold, presented to COP15 Logistics and CSMP Team for the COP15 UN Climate Change Summit, featuring Rivanna’s Spring Award

Buck the Trend

Other business leaders appear to see the benefit of the community-building experience, too. Businesses have responded overwhelmingly to the importance of IMEX, proven by allocating their limited resources to attend this event. At a time when most meeting planners are cutting back on meeting budgets and even cancelling meetings, IMEX enjoyed its largest attendance ever, with nearly 9, 000 people attending the 3-day event in Frankfurt, Germany.

Eco Specifics

IMEX takes its own advice and conducts a green meeting. This year they instituted a green education and awareness program, incorporating drop-in workshops offering live case studies and discussions of green meeting industry standards. Plus, those exhibitors that meet certain eco criteria got a green ribbon to distinguish themselves from the crowd. In addition:

• The badge lanyards are made from plant silk, an organic material manufactured from the waste stems of grain crops. No chemicals are used in the process and the fabric is biodegradable.
• Hydroelectricity is used for all power during the exhibition including build-up and breakdown. In 2009 IMEX was the first trade show in the meetings industry to offer green energy – hydroelectric power – to its exhibitors.
• Recycled and recyclable paper badges coated in corn-starch laminate.
• Recycled and recyclable luggage tags coated in corn-starch laminate.
• An anti-idling policy for IMEX buses.
• The use of bio-diesel buses for 20% of the hosted buyer transfers.
• Reusable recyclable polypropylene visitor bags and jute bags for Association Day.
• Encouraging hosted buyers to travel by train where possible.
• A waste reduction program, which resulted in a saving of 34 tons during the 2008 show, a reduction of 20% on the output in 2007.
• 95% polypropylene carpets are used in the exhibition hall. Polypropylene is a derivative of oil and is recyclable. The IMEX carpets are recycled following the show and made into either carpet again or other polypropylene products.
• All coffee and tea provided in seminar rooms will be fair trade and sugar will be provided in sugar bowls instead of in individual packaging.

Business to Business

Meetings are necessary, but they don’t necessarily require the earth and all within it to be conducted successfully. We’d like to encourage all of our own business partners to take a (recycled) page from the green meetings industry (vegetable-ink-printed) book and consider how many meetings, from team meetings to global conferences, they could manage differently. You can find inspiration from the case studies of the many previous award winners. Get creative enough and an award may well be in your own future.

PaperStone™ is a countertop material made from 100% recycled paper and water-based resin. It was originally developed as an alternative to other solid surfaces such as non-renewable minerals (granite, marble, etc.) and formaldehyde-emitting laminates (Formica, Arclin, etc). Here at Rivanna, where we are always on the search for exciting new materials for our eco awards and gifts, we have found that PaperStone’s unique properties also lend themselves well to award-making – and meeting our triple bottom line.

PaperStone features:

• the load-bearing strength of granite

• the structural rigidity of steel

• the workability of wood

• the water and stain resistance of plastic

• uniform color richness

• a miniscule environmental footprint

PaperStone in a Nutshell

PaperStone is unique in the world of countertop materials because it is the only solid surface approved by the Smartwood program of the Rainforest Alliance, one of the world’s most stringent independent certifiers of forest stewardship and chain-of-custody. We use the Certified series, which is made up entirely of 100% post-consumer recycled office paper and a petroleum-free resin. This resin makes use of safe, natural and renewable ingredients such as cashew nut shells. The paper is infused with the resin and compressed under heat and high pressure to create this dense, strong, and durable material. In contrast, many other laminates are created using petroleum which is non-renewable and potentially noxious.

Paneltech, the makers of PaperStone, also use organic pigments. Both the pigments and resin are made in-house so they know what goes into their finished products. This is why we can feel so confident that it meets our needs as a business and our clients’ needs as smart consumers.

Cutting Edge

We particularly like creating awards with the satisfying weight and feel of stone whilst avoiding destructive quarrying and the expense of qualified fabricators (stone-cutters). Since PaperStone cuts like wood (even better, since it does not chip or splinter), we can shape it ourselves using the tools we already have. In return, you get a beautiful stone-like award for a fraction of the price. And we can both rest easy knowing that Paneltech create local jobs and are socially responsible. All this combined makes PaperStone adhere perfectly to our social, environmental and economic values.

Molding the Future

There is more good news; Paneltech is entering into the world of cradle-to-cradle innovation. They are developing molded products called StonKast (also see stories of sustainability) made from recycled PaperStone. Paneltech reuses offcuts from the production line and accepts scraps from their distributors to create new molded products such as sinks and shower surrounds. Theoretically, the scraps could be remolded endlessly – so what you discard as junk mail today becomes your grandson’s bathtub three generations down the line. And you thought junk mail had no purpose…

It is no wonder that PaperStone meets the EPA’s comprehensive procurement guideline (CPG) for awards, and counts for points towards LEED building projects. The material is virtually virtuous on every level: even the finish they use is foodsafe.

Awarding Their Efforts

So when is it right to choose a PaperStone award? We use PaperStone in our FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) Certified award series. It is the kind of award that sits proudly on a mantelpiece or desktop and we expect you will want to choose this product for weighty achievements; the material is dense, the color is deep and rich, the shapes are elegant, and it has a renewable lifecycle. The texture is smooth and warm to the touch while the patina is semi-glossy. The edges show the natural striations of the paper layers while the face is uniformly mottled and color is consistent throughout. We think you will be delighted to give a PaperStone award and your recipient will be proud to display it. After all, you both probably helped create it.

PaperStone photos ©Paneltech Products, Inc.

Since there was no furniture in the space I had just leased on Allied Street (where we still are today), I returned to my home office to map out a plan for our first week of work together. The phone was ringing as I walked through the door. A friend of mine was crying. She told me to turn on the TV. I tuned in just in time to see the south tower fall.

Almost a decade later, the pain of that day still overwhelms me. I remember, too, the collective fear and overwhelming uncertainty that hung over us all. We didn’t know what would happen that evening, or the next day. We didn’t know how to think about our future.

I certainly didn’t know how to think about the future of Rivanna Natural Designs. I had never owned a business before. The company had been incorporated for 72 days. Our 3-year lease was 11 days old. We didn’t have any products. We didn’t have any clients. After months of meticulous research and planning, I suddenly had absolutely no idea what would happen next or what I should do next. As I stood in line for hours waiting to donate blood, I thought it was probably best to forget about the whole venture.

But, that very morning, I had met an extraordinary young woman and offered her a job. Her name was Danae Marshall. We had been together, talking about our dreams for a better world and sharing our ideas to make that happen, while the world outside was shattering in ways we could not have imagined.  I had seen a brighter, better future in her young eyes and a determination on her part to make that future a reality. Come what may, I knew my future would be brighter because of her.

And so, that next Monday, Danae and I went to work at Rivanna. We painted our space, sourced environmentally-friendly materials, researched options for equipment, talked about products. We started with less gusto than we had anticipated but more resolve than we had known we possessed. We got stronger, and Rivanna got stronger, every day.

Danae lives in Europe now, following her dreams of making the world a better place. She has graciously agreed to be a contributor on our blog, and we’re grateful for this opportunity to share with her and learn from her. Rivanna’s success is due in no small part to Danae’s contributions over the years. She is, in fact, responsible for our very existence. Danae, we are grateful always. Welcome back!

Many organizations are making the switch to perpetual plaques and more modest awards. One of our longtime clients, Rockwell Automation, introduced perpetual plaques for their environmental and safety award programs a few years back. Acknowledging that some of their facilities are consistently at the top, winning gold and silver awards year after year, Rockwell decided to create a single plaque for each facility and then provide year plates to note the facility’s annual achievement.  Not only does Rockwell save money this way, but each facility has added incentive to meet their annual environmental goals – how would it look if a year plate was missing? The company saved about 60% in cost for their program, and according to award coordinator Esmey Kosier, “The results have been fantastic. Facilities love the awards, no one feels like they weren’t recognized, and ordering is a breeze.” Recipients continue to be grateful for the recognition and Rockwell not only saves money, but helps conserve our precious natural resources in the process.

Perpetual plaques represent more than simply a public, cost-effective way to acknowledge award winners. Recognizing achievement with a perpetual plaque reflects both respect for the past and the future.  After all, the most meaningful accomplishments are not necessarily singular efforts, particularly in the world of sustainability.   They are achievements that rest on the shoulders of those who came before us, just as tomorrow’s successes depend upon the good work we do today.

We’re introducing a new line of perpetual plaques, made from our eco-friendly materials, that offer a fresh, contemporary approach to ongoing recognition.  In addition to our two current designs, we will be offering a total of 12 new perpetual plaques, hand crafted from bamboo, FSC-certified sustainably harvested cherry and mahogany, and FSC recycled wood. The plaques come in two sizes – 9” x 12”, and 12” x 15”. The smaller plaques have space for six plates, as well as plenty of room for your logo and text. The 12” x 15” plaques come in 9, 12, and 18 plate varieties. The 9” x 12” plaques are $124.95 each, and the 12” x 15” are $144.95, with the exception of one with room for 18 plates, which is $149.95. The engraving plates are $10 each and can be ordered annually.

We’ll have photos soon, but for now you can download a PDF catalog for a sneak peek of the new designs. Please contact us if you have any questions or would like to order one of the new perpetual plaques!

First, the Rivanna Review has a new home! To give us more freedom and ease in posting and sharing on our blog, we’re moving it to our own domain (rivannadesigns.com). Everything else remains the same – it just now lives at the easy-to-remember http://www.rivannadesigns.com/blog. Please take care to update your bookmarks or RSS/blog feeds to be sure you stay up to date!

Secondly, starting today, we’ve added a new feature to our website that will make every step of the ordering process easier  – live chat! From our contact us page, you can access it by clicking on the “Live Chat” graphic. If someone is available to chat, you’ll be asked to provide your name and question and will be directed to the appropriate department. If no one is online to chat at the moment, you have the option of leaving a message for someone to answer as soon as possible (usually the next business day). With this new feature, you can get your questions answered instantly by a Rivanna representative – no need to wait for an email! If you have questions about our products or services, or just don’t know where to begin, we’re happy to help. Try it out today and please let us know what you think.

We hope these changes make your experience on our site a little better (and more fun!) and we welcome your feedback.

It’s not all fun and games, though. The honey bee population is in severe decline, and for several chapters Jacobsen scopes out several possible culprits, telling us a lot about what’s wrong with our current agricultural situation in the process. The overarching problem is a rather vague one: CCD – colony collapse disorder. The cause for this unsettling disappearance of bees doesn’t suddenly become crystal clear; rather, we gradually gets the sickening feeling that there are a lot of things going very, very wrong. Honey bees are being trucked all over the country in the name of pollination – from summer clover feasts in South Dakota to citrus trees in Florida to almond groves in California (the “almond orgy,” Jacobsen calls it – and accurately so, since California has 82% of the world almond market and requires 1.5 million full-strength hives for pollination). Beekeepers spray chemical after chemical on their hives, hoping to ward off bloodthirsty varroa mites. Nearby crops are being treated by pesticides that may seem harmless to the plants, but affect the bees’ ability to communicate. Strange, foreign diseases start infecting the bees. It seems that the bees’ immune systems are being weakened – not by one specific malady, but by the changes taking place around them as our ever-demanding economy dictates where they go and how they’re treated.

Jacobsen paints a frightening picture of what Earth would (and will, he argues) look like without those precious pollinators, and helps us remember how complex and fragile the natural world is – something we take for granted when we add berries to our morning cereal or munch on an afternoon snack of granola. Rather than proposing clear-cut solutions, he offers examples of those doing it right – mainly Kirk Webster and his secluded, well-treated bees in Vermont’s Champlain Valley. The penultimate chapter of the book is devoted to the beauty of nature – the intelligence of its design, and how flawlessly the puzzle pieces of insects and plants fit together. By contrast, the book’s final chapter delivers blow after blow, warning how this fragile structure is already starting to fall apart. Jacobsen leaves us with the choice – to turn the other cheek and hope that our advancing technology will provide a solution, or to embrace the world “of fragrance and form…the one drenched in hope, possibility, and the ardent hum of new life being made.”

At Rivanna, we work hard to ensure that the business of running our business does as little as possible to disrupt the world’s natural processes and ecosystems. After reading Fruitless Fall, we’ll be working even harder. We hope you will, too.

It’s no surprise, then, that the library also seeks to promote sustainability through the best way a library can – books. The Green Prize for Sustainable Literature Awards are in their third year, and recognize authors who bring environmental issues to the forefront through fiction, non-fiction, reference, and children’s books. Sponsored by the library as well as the City of Santa Monica Office of Sustainability and the Environment (OSE), the awards are yet another demonstration of the city’s commitment to sustainability – in theory and in practice. Rivanna was honored to be selected again this year as the provider of the recycled glass awards for this prestigious event.

Reinforcing how important sustainability is to the city, mayor of Santa Monica Ken Genser gave an introduction and voiced his dedication to the city’s continuing sustainability efforts. Dean Kubani, Director of the OSE, presented the awards. Many of the winning authors don’t live in the United States and realized it wouldn’t exactly be “green” to hop on a plane and jet across the Atlantic to attend the ceremony, but there were a few in attendance; most notably, Chip Jacobs and William J. Kelly, authors of Smogtown: The Lung-Burning History of Pollution in Los Angeles and winners of the award for Adult Local Impact book. Many other authors sent video acceptances or eloquent written expressions of gratitude.

The Green Prize for Sustainability Literature Awards celebrate two causes that are near and dear to us here at Rivanna – protecting our environment and encouraging reading. We’re continually inspired by the work our clients and their award recipients are doing to improve our planet and hope that by sharing their efforts, we can motivate others to get involved, too.

For a list of the award winners, visit the library website – http://www.smpl.org/greenprize.htm.

An excerpt of Jane Goodall’s acceptance video is below:

This month, the National Pollution Prevention Roundtable (NPPR) awarded six organizations with its annual MVP2 Project/Program Awards.  The awards recognize innovative, effective pollution prevention (P2) projects all over the country. Kansas State University’s Pollution Prevention Institute received an award for its P2 summer intern program that connects top engineering and environmental science students with industry (and pays them, too – even better!). It’s a great way for students to get hands-on experience in an industrial setting, and firms get the benefit of a well-developed plan to help them reduce energy use, emissions, hazardous solid wastes, water contaminants, and employee risks. Plus, the interns often receive job offers from the host companies. It’s a win-win program that also benefits the environment – win-win-win!

For more information about the KSU P2 Institute and the intern program, visit http://www.sbeap.org/content/internships.  To learn about the NPPR and their awards, head over to www.p2.org.

We’re looking forward to spotlighting other inspiring award winners in the future, so check back often or contact us to share your story!