With the environment and economic climate changing, there are two choices for business owners: weather the storm and hope for things to return to normal or look for new opportunities and change the climate themselves. Businesses across the region are constantly being challenged and often must address the difficult choices in balancing financial concerns and environmental innovation to become a more sustainable operation.
To that end the annual reThink Waterloo 2012 conference is being held on May 11 with the main focus this year on exploring a sustainable business action plan. The conference is set up to show local businesses how to succeed in the world of greener operations, climate change risk mitigation and business sustainability.
“People need to start looking at their businesses differently and need to ask themselves what do I need to change and what is the new norm in terms of a successful business,” said Antoni Paleshi, programming director of reThink Waterloo. “We are seeing people act more and more towards the green economy as they act more sustainable in their operations and this conference will help them discover new trends and ideas.”
The last conference held in 2009 focused on local businesses taking action towards a sustainable future and featured guest speaker Dr. David Suzuki, who addressed the fundamental crisis of how we see ourselves on this planet and what we can do as individuals to make changes.
This year’s keynote speaker, Andrew Heintzman, is the chair of the Premier’s Climate Change Advisory Panel for the province of Ontario. He is also president and co-founder of Investeco, a Canadian investment company that deals exclusively in the environmental sector. He’ll be speaking about how to create an economy based on green innovation.
“We need to make resources more efficient globally and a place like a high-tech centre like Waterloo has a great opportunity to capitalize on that,” said Heintzman in a phone interview from his office in Toronto. “This also dovetails with ideas about good societies and good ways of living that create more livable places which we should be striving for in our communities.”
Heintzman will be discussing the topic from a macro perspective, touching on where he sees the global economy going and then changing focus by looking at where Canada is heading economically and how that will affect the region.
“In Canada there is a struggle between natural resource developments versus a more innovation-oriented economy. I will be arguing for the merits of innovation, focusing on how local communities can take advantage of some of the innovations available to them,” said Heintzman.
The conference will also include two interactive panel discussions where leading experts and experienced local, national and global organizations will share their stories.
The first panel, moderated by Mike Morrice of Sustainable Waterloo Region, will discuss the implications of climate change on businesses through the perspective of an accountant, a lawyer and an insurer.
“There will be some upcoming implications when it comes to climate change and the panel is set to discuss the legal and insurance implications by giving a professional services perspective on what is going to happen as climate change becomes a more significant issue in the lives of businesses,” said Paleshi. “There are businesses like retailers who may not think that climate change will affect them but it will become significant for that group of people as well.”
The goal of the climate change panel is to have businesses look at their emissions and what steps they need to take to change those practice.
Later in the day a panel discussion about embedding sustainability into business practices will be held concentrating on dealing with the social, economic and environmental implications in a community and the challenges of directing an organization with profit, the planet and people all in mind.
“Climate change is not the only topic that relates to sustainability, there is a social impact as well and the long term viability of a company and all deal with the triple bottom line of social, environmental and economical issues,” said Paleshi. “The idea is to create a project or business that has success in all three areas and what that means.”
After the panel discussions delegates will have the opportunity to share their own stories, discuss solutions to help them overcome some of their business challenges and network with local business professionals.
The conference is expecting over 200 participants comprised of business leaders in the region interested in developing their businesses towards a more sustainable future.
The event will be held on May 11 at the Waterloo Inn starting at 8 a.m. Tickets for the event are $125 per person and all proceeds will be donated to the charity All Our Relations Hospice and Retreat Centre. For more information visit the website www.rethinkwaterloo.org.
