Got plans for April fool’s day? Cancel them, and come to the Beverly Hills Hotel. I’ll be there, Greg — green financial planner extraordinaire — will be there, and Ben Packard — Starbucks rep — will be there for a summit, titled “Climate Solutions for Communities,” put together by Global Green.
When: Saturday, April 1, 2006 at 1:30pm.
Where: Beverly Hills Hotel – Rodeo Room. 9641 Sunset Blvd. Beverly Hills.
Cost: Suggested contribution of $25. Free for students (yey!).
How: RSVP to RSVP@GLOBALGREEN.ORG
If you’re wondering why Starbucks made this panel — I’m wondering right along with you. I mean, I’m not saying that Starbucks hasn’t done some enviro-friendly stuff, but look at the other panelists and presenters:
David Butterfield, a world leader in sustainable development and chairman of Loreto Bay, which is part of The Trust for Sustainable Development.
A rep from Participant Productions, which uses film (Good Night and Good Luck, Syriana) and other media to raise awareness about important social issues.
Sheila Watt-Cloutier, chair of Inuit Circumpolar Conference, an international org that represents the Inuit people of the Arctic and seeks to strengthen, protect, and develop Inuit rights and the circumpolar regions.
These are amazing companies and orgs that have made socio-environmental consciousness a central part of their raison d’etre, not companies that’ve tacked on some CSR initiatives for PR purposes.
But who knows — Perhaps what Starbucks has been doing to at least make their biz more environmentally friendly has gotten a lot more serious and is really a big deal. I’ll try to go with an open mind — Maybe there’s a way that Ben Packard, Director of Environmental Affairs in the Corporate Social Responsibility department of Starbucks, could fit right in on that panel…
Update, 4/5/06: A report on the panel at the summit, here.
How did Ben from starbucks do?
Comment by james — April 3, 2006 @ 10:22 pm
Pretty well, I guess, from a Starbucks perspective :P I wrote about it here.
Comment by Siel — April 6, 2006 @ 4:50 pm
Well I can tell you that David Butterfield is (…or was?)developing a project at Baja Mexico that is adevertised as “sustainable” … well my surprise when I came down there is that they are only using that as pure Marketing as they are building in perform wall (synthetic material) with particles spread all over the beach and sea, the lighting has ZERO idea about efficiency, lots of air-con units, non solar panels included as promised, local animals killed, dead fish, turtles killed, the area is supossed to be protected!
Comment by Isra — January 8, 2008 @ 5:55 pm