Greetings!

Our biggest news this month is our new identity! Same organization, but new look. Our new website identity will be unveiled this month as well.

Otherwise, as the world digs our way out of this economic crisis, it will be important to build our economy on some new principles. In this newsletter we include an article by Darcy Hitchcock summarizing some of the most important concepts in play right now. One of the book reviews is of an author mentioned in the article, and we have an upcoming webinar on green careers.

sincerely,
The ISSP Management Team
Marsha Willard, Executive Director
Darcy Hitchcock, Education Director
Dorothy Atwood, Webinars Director
Michelle Hippler, Marketing Director

Featured Article

Homo Economicus Interruptus:
New principles for a sustainable economy
by Darcy Hitchcock, ISSP Education Director

Jared Diamond, author of Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed, stated, “Perhaps the crux of success or failure of a society is to know which core values to hang onto, and which ones to discard and replace with new values when times change.”

Darcy Hitchcock’s article asks the question: If we’re not going to base our economy on consumerism and growth, what are we going to base it on? Download.

Upcoming ISSP Distance Learning Courses

Practical Tools and Methods for Change Agents

with Alan AtKisson (back by popular demand!)

Alan AtKisson, author of The ISIS Agreement and Believing Cassandra (Stockholm), will guide you through the jungle of sustainability techniques and change processes and help them learn when and how to apply them successfully. Using the ISIS Method (Indicators Systems Innovation Strategy) as a guiding structure and sequence, you will deepen your understanding of both these general methodological categories, as well as specific sustainability tools, with AtKisson’s ISIS Accelerator tools in focus. You will apply both the Method and a variety of tools they select (from the Accelerator suite as well as other tools) to develop a sustainability project or initiative, and will work to produce a detailed strategic action plan for that initiative.

This course meets on-line on Mondays (May 3, 10, 17, 24) at 12:00 PM Pacific Time for 60-90 minutes.

Early registration deadline is April 10! Register Now.

Roadmap for Success: Continuous Energy Improvement

Brought to you by BetterBricks

In today’s challenging economy, it’s easy to appreciate the financial benefits of making energy efficiency a key component of the sustainability planning process. But it’s not necessarily easy to determine how to bring about the desired savings. This series will help you to think strategically about energy management for your company/facility to ensure long-term energy savings. Covered will be the necessary ingredients for energy management for continuous energy improvement:

* Energy Benchmarking using Energy Star’s Portfolio Manager,
* Setting Energy Targets,
* Financial Analysis,
* Continuous Energy Improvement.

You will benefit from interactive with experts to understand and implement energy efficiency in your organization.

This course meets online on Tuesdays (May 4, 11, 18, 25) at 11:00am PST.

Early registration deadline is April 10! Register Now.

GREEN CAREERS: ISSP Webinar on Where to Find the Job of Your Dreams

Green careers are booming. How can you find the career of your dreams, one where you can make a living and change the world for the better too? Join Jim Cassio, author of Green Careers: Choosing Work for a Sustainable Future, Carol McClelland, author of Green Careers For Dummies, and Vicki Lind, a green career counselor. The webinar will focus on answering these questions:

Lite green or dark green. What’s a green job anyway?
What are the most common job titles in the Green Economy?
What are the jobs related to the green stimulus package, particular in Energy Efficiency?
What are some green career areas of growth for those whose skills are not technical or scientific?
How can you green your resume?
Webinar: May 21 @ 12:00 Noon PST. Webinars run about an hour in length.

This event is FREE to members and non-members. Registration is required. Register Now.

June Events
Sign up now for early registration price!

Life-Cycle Assessment 101 Workshop with Tom Gloria (Back by popular demand!)

Webinar: Sustainability Reporting: Leading Companies in 2010 Speaker: Paul Scott, Corporate Register, London UK .

What’s New @ ISSP

Directory of Sustainability Assessments

Coming later this year!

ISSP is planning to put together a directory of publicly available sustainability assessments. Here are the ones we know about and we are soliciting information from them.
B-Corp
Campus Sustainability Assessment Project
Community Sustainability Assessment
Genuine Wealth Assessment
Helix
LASER
Probe
S-Bar
SA 8000
SAM
SCORE
STARS
If you’re aware of any others, please send the name of the tool and contact info todhitchcock@sustainabilityprofessionals.org.

International Consulting Opportunity

Assessment of existing and potential
reporting, accountability and institutional arrangements for the Global Mechanism

The UNCCD secretariat is now looking for two consultants for technical assistance to be provided to the COP9 Bureau in its intersessional process.

Interested candidates should send their applications (CV and motivation letter) to the UNCCD Secretariat and through the following e-mail account:
secretariat@unccd.int

The deadline for application is 6 April 2010.

For further information, please visit:
http://www.unccd.int/secretariat/vacancies/docs/ToRs%20Bureau%20Version%2022-03.pdf

Book Reviews

Darcy Hitchcock has new book reviews in the member resource section.

Jackson, Tim (2009) Prosperity without Growth: Economics for a Finite Planet. London , England : Earthscan.

Christian, Diana Leafe (2003) Creating a Life Together: Practical Tools to Grow Ecovillages and Intentional Communities. Gabriola Island , BC : New Society Publishers.

Sustainability Conference Listing

Take at look at theupcoming conferences around the world.
See details on the ISSP site under Partner Events

Integrating Sustainability into Your Organizational Development Practices, March 5th, April 2nd, May 7th, San Francisco Bay Area
Sustainable Opportunities Summit, March 2-4, Denver , CO
Sustainability in Packaging, March 15-17, Orlando , FL
Virtual Summits: Smart ICT , March 30 – April 1 2010 (live on-line)
International Corporate Citizenship Conference, April 11-13, 2010, Boston , MA
The 3rd Annual Carbon Trade China 2010, April 15th- 16th, 2010, Beijing , China
GoGreen ’10, April 21, Seattle
Sustainable Brands, June 7-10, Monterey
Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability, June 21-22, Malaysia
Disaster Risk Reduction Certificate, Sept 6-17, Lusanne , Switzerland and November 8-19, Bangalore , India