Brad’s goal is to build knowledge and cooperation among sustainability advocates. His vision is to effect change in the way that business is conducted.

Brad is the Founder and President of the Toronto Sustainability Speaker Series (TSSS). Now in its 8th year, TSSS is widely recognized as Canada’s premiere forum for dialogue and problem solving among sustainability professionals. Each year over 1000 sustainability change agents attend TSSS events to exchange ideas and delve into trends, risks and opportunities that are presented by our shifting business model. Brad is often considered to be a “tribal” leader in the sustainability movement; he is a connector of people and ideas. Brad has a Masters in Environmental Studies from York University in Toronto and regularly writes and speaks on the topic of corporate sustainability.

Articles by Brad

Building your CSR Strategy without the baggage – what would you do differently?

Establishing a new sustainability strategy at your company can come with plenty of baggage but what if you had the chance to do it all right…from the beginning.

baggage

  • No long term relationships that are inconsistent with your sustainability strategy
  • No long term contracts with non-aligned partners
  • No inertia built into your operations and decision making
  • No culture of fear for trying unproven strategies
  • No track record with reliable supply chain partners
  • No interference from a parent company

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Posted in Business and Sustainability, Culture and Leadership, Culture Change, Organizational Culture, The Hub | Tagged , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Water intensity in our food production – are you prepared to give up what you crave most?

water energy food nexusWe’ve been told that beef uses an enormous amount of water and that cutting it out of our diet can be a great environmental choice.  In this video, created by grist.com, you can see what other choices you can make to save water.  You’ll notice that there’s one food product that you can eliminate that’s even more water intensive than beef but cutting that out of your diet might be next to impossible for many.

Posted in Behaviour Change, Climate change, Featured Video, Sustainable Agriculture, Sustainable Food, The Hub, Videos, Water | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Sport, Sustainability and Community Engagement: A Focus on the 2015 Toronto Pan Am Games

Building a CSR Strategy without the Corporate “Baggage”

Pam AM TorontoSport has a magical ability to unite millions of people across different economic, social, geographic and political lines. You can likely think of several great sporting moments that you will never forget. With those memories in mind, one begins to appreciate the enormous responsibility for the organizers of the Toronto 2015 Pan Am Games. They have an opportunity to do something special that will impact entire communities for generations to come. We want to know how they’re doing it.

On April 1st TSSS will host a panel of experts including Ann Duffy who was the Corporate Sustainability Officer to the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games and who continues to provide CSR guidance to the IOC and FIFA. Our panel will explore the power of sport to reach people and communities like nothing else can. Topics to be discussed include: Community Engagement, Sustainable Purchasing, Importance of a Clear Vision, Diversity and Inclusion, Branding and Leaving a Legacy.

[NOTE: Recent conversations have shed light on the “baggage” challenges that companies face when they try to insert a CSR Strategy into a pre-existing culture. 

The upcoming event offers the perfect chance to delve into this challenge and discuss the freedom and benefits that come with a sporting event like the Toronto 2015 Pan Am Games where much of that baggage doesn’t exist – a clear vision can be established right from the beginning.  This article explores some of the “baggage” ideas further.  Building your CSR Strategy without the baggage – what would you do differently?]

Register Now

Ask yourself:

Has your company ever tried to positively impact a community or group of communities as part of its sustainability strategy? Have you ever tried to implement a sustainable purchasing plan? Has your company ever stumbled as it explores its purpose in a changing economic and business environment?  If you answered YES to any to these questions then this event is for you.

ENGAGE DIRECTLY WITH THE PANELISTS VIA OUR LIVESTREAM AND TWITTERCHAT (#tssschat)
REGISTER FOR LIVESTREAM BELOW

Distinguished Guests:

Ann Duffy

Naki Osutei

Zenia Wadhwani

 

 

 

 

 

  • Ann Duffy, Principal, The Ann Duffy Group Inc., CSR Officer at Vancouver 2010 Winter Games, Consultant to IOC and FIFA
  • Naki Osutei, Director, Public Affairs and Social Legacy for the Toronto 2015 Pan Am/Para Pan Am Games.
  • Zenia Wadhwani, Director, Community Outreach for the Toronto 2015 Pan Am/Para Pan Am Games.


Some of the topics that we will explore include:

  • How a clear vision creates a safe place for thinking BIG
  • How to implement a sustainable purchasing strategy for an event of this size
  • What top level approach was used to maximize community benefits AND how is it being implemented?
  • What can corporations learn from this approach to community engagement?
  • What strategies are being used to ensure that the games will leave a positive legacy of sustainable excellence?
  • How diversity and inclusion are being supported in all decision making


Where and When:

Loyalty OneDATE: Wednesday, April 1st, 2015 (registration closes March 27th)
TIME: 4:30-7:30 PM (snacks & networking from 6:45-7:30 PM)
LOCATION: Loyalty One, 438 University Ave., 12th Floor, Toronto (use elevators on the left in the lobby)
TWITTERCHAT: #tssschat from 5:15 – 6:00 PM EST
LIVESTREAM available: Register for password

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Posted in Upcoming Events | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Can we survive “Tesla-Time” innovation?

At the recent TSSS event (CSR and the Capital Markets – click for event summary) a conversation broke out about the power of corporate innovation to drive change…as you may have guessed, the company being discussed was Tesla.

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The point being made by one of the panelists was that the markets can drive great change and can be an excellent way to deal with environmental and social challenges.  For the most part, I think everyone in the room agreed but this idea gets tricky when we dig into it a little further.

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Posted in Business and Sustainability, Climate change, Culture and Leadership, Featured Articles, Leadership, new economy, Sustainable Investing, The Hub | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Comments closed

Unrequited Love – Corporate CSR Reports and Bay Street Investors (Part II – Bringing government into the relationship)

More questions than answers

There were certainly more questions than answers at the Feb. 5th TSSS event, and the three panelists offered different insights.  When moderator Dr. Feltmate asked whether it might be valuable to develop a way of measuring progress of a company in the sustainability realm over time, with a quantifiable index that presents an annual summary score calculation, McPherson answered that this would be important to the corporation for understanding trending, but might not be of interest to the capital markets. (To read Part I of the event summary please click here)

TSSS Event Feb. 5, 2015 – CSR and the Capital Markets with expert panel; Blair Feltmate (moderator) Julie Desjardins, Ian McPherson and Martin Grosskopf.

TSSS Event Feb. 5, 2015 – CSR and the Capital Markets with expert panel; Blair Feltmate (moderator) Julie Desjardins, Ian McPherson and Martin Grosskopf.

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Posted in Business and Sustainability, Communication, Event Summaries, Sustainable Investing | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments closed
  • TSSS EVENT: Sport and Sustainability: A Focus on the 2015 Toronto Pan Am Games (FREE Livestream)

    Pam AM TorontoJoin TSSS on April 1st as our panel explores the power of sport to reach people and communities like nothing else can. Topics to be discussed include: Community Engagement, Sustainable Purchasing, Importance of a Clear Vision, Diversity and Inclusion, Branding and Leaving a Legacy. Learn more
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