Getting Back On Track

Having overlooked what we advise clients to do, i.e. blog at least once a week, for a little while we are now turning our attention back to the Thought Shower blog.  The learning from this is that keeping a twitter feed active is much easier (click on the button on the homepage to follow us on twitter) and that we need to dedicate time to the blog even when things are really busy.

So what’s been going on in the world of environment policy?  Is Brussels still standing?  Well, the answer is a resounding ‘yes’.  The new European Commissioners are now in office and work has begun in earnest.  We are watching the new Climate Commissioner and the Research and Innovation Commissioner with great interest.  Also Commissioner Potocnik who moved from Research to Environment.

The (Research &) Innovation Commissioner has said she wants to create an ‘Innovation Union’ in Europe.  She seems at least to be embracing the idea that innovation should be a horizontal issue across the whole Commission and not just in DG Research.  I’ve just discovered a new blog by an old colleague Nigel Griffiths.  I met Nigel ten years ago when I was a journalist on the introduction of the euro and we’ve kept in touch.  You can read him at http://www.innovationeu.org, home of Innovation Europe, a new publication on innovation which we’re working with for one of our clients.

So what else is new?  Ellie Haag finished her internship and went on to work for an organisation which looks at how business fits into society, an interesting initiative for sure.  And we are working really well with our Network.  There’s so much expertise to draw on within the Network and we are learning by doing, finding the best way to make the most of this great resource.  There is still lots of interest in Sustainability Consult and as such new business is good.  Just one of the new projects we are currently working on is for Oxfam which we’re very excited about.

That’s a quick catch-up.  We are now back on track with the blog.  And the photo?  I just took it.  It’s the sunrise looking down to the sea over the Spanish countryside.  And the socks?  Well, the less we say about the socks the better.

Business As Usual

Hard to believe that the year is already ticking on with plenty of projects underway.  We’re organising Strategic Planning sessions to shape clients’ 2010 strategy.  We’ve been busy doing detailed analysis of last year’s press clippings and are all pleased to see some great results - 46 articles that we placed in 2009 for one client. 

We’re debriefing on the healthcare campaign we ran at the end of last year and going through the great feedback given following the Writing Skills training we did just before the holidays.  Still tying up 2009 means still having one foot in 2009 and only one in 2010.  And it’s time to move on. 

We’ve already done our first new business pitch for the year and started booking 2010 travel.  There’s plenty in the diary and it already feels like a fantastic New Year.  Time to build on the successes of 2009, take away as many learnings as possible and embrace this New Year fully.  Watch this space... we’ll keep you posted.

Back To School Feeling

Just a quick post to wish everyone a very Happy New Year.  May it be healthy and sustainable.  We’re back to work and the Christmas greeting on the Sustainability Consult homepage has been replaced with our lovely mountain, but we’ve added it to the blog here to retain every last ounce of Christmas cheer going into the New Year.

New Year, new priorities?  Not really.  We’re absolutely committed still to giving the best and the most creative service to our clients and the media we deal with and trying to make business a better place to operate.  On a more personal level, every year we develop our skills and strive for balance.  My own driving force is to provide the best service while remaining flexible.  It’s a different business model but I feel I’m proving that it works.  Indulging my passion for travel, for living between different locations, for the mountains and open spaces which, still thankfully, fill this earth.  It’s a win-win situation as I know this flexibility fuels my creativity.

Talking of skills, last year’s focus, or you could say fixation, was social media with twitter and friends giving us lots of fun and showing themselves to be a fantastic resource for news and networking.  Follow us at twitter.com/kathrynsheridan or contact us for a training on green blogs. 

Operating in the downturn, we’ve seen many seasoned professionals lose their jobs and embrace freelancing and self-employment to sustain them and their families.  We wish them all the best and look forward to extending our network to make the most of all this expertise which has now become available.  I’m just grateful that we launched Sustainability Consult before the worst of the downturn hit.

All the best,

Kathryn

Christmas Giving

We’re giving water this Christmas...

Sustainability Consult is supporting Pump Aid this Christmas, buying an Elephant pump for a community in Africa.  Elephant pumps can provide 40 litres of clean drinking water each for 250 people.  We believe access to clean water is the fundamental building block for education and development.  The Elephant pump provides enough water for small-scale irrigation and agricultural projects and can make a huge difference to a community.

To see more about Pump Aid Elephant pumps, see the YouTube video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FBjVyNse_xI.

Pump Aid

Pump Aid tackles poverty in rural Africa by working with local communities to establish sustainable supplies of clean water for improved health and increased agricultural production. Pump Aid builds appropriate technology water pumps that can be maintained by poor rural communities without any outside assistance. For more information, visit www.pumpaid.org.