Innovation for Extremes

Innovation for Extremes: Innovation in the Context of Global Warming was held on April 30th 2008, and hosted by the Institute for Entrepreneurship and Enterprise Development (IEED), Lancaster University Management School and organised by Mike Parsons and Mary Rose OMM and IEED. Opened by Lancaster University Chancellor Sir Chris Bonington this  exciting conference was fully booked and drew its audience from across the UK outdoor trade, with a set of world class speakers from the outdoor sector, from academia and from the leading environmental charity and lobby group Forum for the Future.

Lancaster Management School's video conferencing facilities allowed participants to join the  CEOs of Patagonia, Mountain Equipment Co-operative (MEC)  and Polartec. Presentations from David Labistour (MEC), Casey Sheahan (Patagonia) and Andy Vecchione (Polartec) brought remarkable insight directly to the Innov-Ex 08 audience. Delegates were able to question them about how these leading companies dealt with environmental issues profitably while making their eco-promises understandable and transparent.

Comments

Don Gladstone, Brand Manager Grangers on Innov Ex 08:

Many thanks for a superb, informative environmental conference. I must be honest and say that up until to day I would have said the above was a contradiction in terms! What I really feel you have achieved is a 'solution' based platform where we can all learn and gain more knowledge about our planet and indeed our back yard! I can only hope the wider leisure industry follows your model of thought and delivery. Brilliant and thank you again.

David Sproson, The Outdoor Warehouse, Windermere

"Having read much on the subject of climate change and the impact our industrial society adds to an ever changing solar system cycle it was very interesting to hear from all the various speakers. It is clearly a very complex subject and one we cannot afford to treat lightly. The responses that Patagiona, Mountain Equipment Co-op (MEC) and Polartec made, showed just how much an organisation can do to reduce it's negative impact in this field. On a personal level it has very clearly shown a way forward that we as an independant retailer can and need to do without delay. I would encourage those within the industry who have yet to attend an "Innovations Conference" to do so. It's well worth it and time well spent!"

Tim Drake Outdoor Industry CEO Think Tank

The day was a great achievement and will have set in train some genuine momentum within the industry for change.

Sir Chris Bonington, Lancaster University Chancellor, Chairman of Berghaus, President Outdoor Industries Association

I found it fascinating and even more important I think it is going to influence the out door trade in what they do in future.

Overview of key themes of the day

 The frightening speed of global warming and climate change highlighted by Bob Headland (Scott Polar Research Institute, University of Cambridge) Chris Sherwin (Forum for the Future), and Nick Brown (President Nikwax Paramo,
member of Board of Directors of European Outdoor Group's Association for Conservation),  demonstrated the urgency of action and the need to confront the threat of 'the end of civilisation as we know it, identified by the New Scientist, in April 2008. Addressing this challenge requires a shift in the mental map across the outdoor trade,  rather than tweaks by individual companies.  It involves sustainability, based on energy use throughout the life cycle of products in ways which consumers trust. It involves imagination, creativity and innovation and Bernadette Macdonald (freelance writer and past Director of the Banff Mountain Film Festival) highlighted the power of taking a long term view, when companies are prepared to take an environmental stance in ways that make a difference.

Avoid Green Wash

Sustainability and 'Green' have  become buzz words in recent years. The result has been 'Green Wash' and a recent report suggested that 80% of company environmental claims are bogus.  Building consumer trust through transparent communication by companies is the way forward, while ever more complex labelling serve to confuse rather than to inform.

Transparent communication rather than simply 'eco-promising' is a vital step in this process and the recent Forum for the Future Eco-promising report is an exceptional guide on to how to embed trust and build integrity into brands using honest and open communication.

Mark Held (Secretary General of the European Outdoor Group (EOG) and founder of the EOG Association for Conservation) warned how misuse of the green message leads to consumer cynicism giving 'going green' a bad name. The combination of transparency and  integrity has been recently illustrated by the success of Marks and Spencer's current sustainable innovation strategy. This philosophy was also vividly conveyed by David Labistour's inspirational video-conferenced presentation.  As CEO of Canada's largest and most respected environmentally responsible outdoor retailer, MEC, Labistour showed how green policies were the basis of MEC's culture and brand. Ethical corporate responsibility and the environment are so deeply embedded in the actions of MEC that extravagant claims, labels advertising are entirely unnecessary and consumer trust is enormous. Environment and ethical corporate responsibility is visible in all elements of MEC policy, from its buildings and location, through its HR strategy where the job description includes 'curiosity', through to product design and recycling. Patagonia's ethical and ecological philosophy is well captured in a recent TV interview with founder Yvon Chouinard The company's eco leadership reaches out across American business, well beyond the outdoor trade.

To quote Chris Sherwin Forum for the Future's Director of Innovation, sustainability is about : 'meeting the demands of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs' involves a holistic response which goes deeply into economic systems down to the individual business and consume- one planet living applying from economies, down to individual plants.  At the heart lies a reassessment of innovation which focuses on the life cycle of the product from cradle to cradle, with an emphasis on the energy intensity of systems throughout a product's life - from the energy used in production of raw materials, to process to use and critically to recycling and reassembly. Robert Lomax (Baxenden, a Chemtura Company) demonstrated that as many myths as realities surrounded the life cycle and environmental impact of textiles and especially textile polymers. In textiles the prime energy intensive impact comes in the product life cycle rather than primarily in textile production.  He showed that contrary to popular opinion, cotton has a very significant environmental impact. Although it accounts for less than 3% of farmed land use, it consumes 25% of global insecticide production and 10% of herbicides.