Some history: the Netherlands – ministry of Environment
I have worked for the Dutch government for almost 3 years, mostly at the ministry of Environment in the International climate change office. It was a great and eye-opening experience to work on this complicated and intriguing world challenge – and with such driven and intelligent colleagues - as policy advisor to the Dutch minister and the EU lead negotiator in the international climate negotiations. Due to all the hard work and good intentions of so many people, at least a next step has been taken to increased commitment and at least the Copenhagen agreement has been written in a decision. That’s what the policy advisor in me would say. The Sustainable Susan in me thought something else, something slightly less positive as you can imagine. It would have been great for all to see a big bang with grand solutions to this global crisis.
A new challenge
However hard to leave my fantastic colleagues, it is the right time for a change, time to see if more results, more action can be generated if working from a different angle and in a smaller organization. And what would be better for Sustainable Susan to work for the Sustainability Institute? It seemed the perfect place (since my boyfriend moved to NYC to work on his MBA at Columbia university) and the perfect time. Right at the time the Institute experienced an exciting phase in its existence, with a new Executive Director – which I was the Special Assistant to . Living part-time in New York city and part-time in the middle of Vermont gives me insight in city versus rural life, another comparison to make. Unfortunately, the changes were too much for the Board of Directors and development came to a stand still. Time for another change.
New Earth
That is where New Earth came into the picture, a fantastic non-profit organization that is ready for change, change in all aspects. New Earth has 2 main programs, Earthster and the Social Hotspot Database.
1. Earthster is an innovative and open source tool for tracking environmental and social data in supply chains. Earthster turns data into life cycle assessments (LCA) or footprints covering all aspects of sustainability. Earthster can build and visualize the process of a product, compare it with other product groups and provide visualizations of the top 10 inputs, top 10 hotspots, the impact in specific tiers of the supply chain and more. The aim is to maximize accessibility to data on sustainability in the supply chain and to enable users to engage supply chains on a path towards sustainable innovation.
2. The Social Hotspot Database (SHDB) is something different, something totally new. With an incredible amount of social data (e.g. on child labor, legal systems, indigenous rights, gender issues and some 30 other groups), this database can provide great visibility in social responsibility issues of product supply chains. The Social Hotspots Database project enables users to:
- Model Product Supply Chains by country specific sector;
- Identify and visualize risks and opportunities in product life cycles;
- Educate and communicate effectively about product life cycles social hotspots;
- Assess the scope or completeness of a product’s social footprint, certification or social impact results.
The SHDB is the first database in this regard and with this kind of extensive data. I will be working on both projects, Earthster and the SHDB. I really hope many companies have the courage (or imposed by government) to use this tool in improving the environmental and social footprint of their products.
Check out more information on the www.newearth.info website. I’ll keep you posted on all the latest developments.
