Earlier this week, Adam Lowry, co-founder and head Green Giant, was called upon the Obama-Biden Transition Team to participate in something very cool. Adam got to speak among a panel of other sustainable businesses about the future of green business and a green economy. We asked Adam what the trip was like...
==========
Last week, I got a call from the Obama-Biden Transition Team. They wanted me to come to Washington and present method’s policy priorities and recommendations to the Administration. After briefly lamenting the extra travel and subsequent carbon emissions (offset, of course), I realized I was being an idiot, and this was a once in a lifetime opportunity. So off I went to Capitol Hill!!
After a morning getting prepared with other members of the
sustainable business community and my friend Jonathan Greenblatt,
founder of Ethos Water and GOOD Mag CEO, who is running the
Transition’s Social Innovation Team, we headed over to Transition Team
HQ. Apparently, the man himself was in the building, as evidenced by
the black SUV’s out front with peculiar appendages and the men in suits
talking to their sleeves (and no, I didn’t meet Obama).
After goofing around in the green room, we were escorted up to a conference room to get down to business.
In the room were 15 of us – some sustainable business practitioners
like me, Seth Goldman from Honest Tea, Gary Hirschberg from Stonyfield
Farm; some public policy specialists; and some of the leaders in the
green jobs movement (like Melissa Bradley-Burns from Green for All).
We spent two hours hearing about the priorities of the Administration,
and sharing our thoughts and wish list for policy over the next 8
years.
For method, our recommendations included nationwide recycling
infrastructure and green chemistry policy, a new corporate form for
sustainable business, and increasing transparency in the supply chain.
Incredibly, many had similar themes, and the Administration walked away
with some action items to put to work.
While it’s hard to walk out of a meeting like that feeling that
something concrete has happened, it was clear that we are entering a
new era. The Obama Administration understands that the deck has been
stacked against businesses trying to do the right thing, that
government has been padding the coffers of polluters, and we need to
rebalance the playing field. The feeling in the room that change was
coming was palpable.
I don’t know if any history was made on Monday, but it sure felt like
one small step that represented the first step in a change toward a
sustainable economy that uses business to help, not hinder, our
environmental and social condition. I’m incredibly excited for what
comes next….
