Sow the seeds of sustainability

It’s almost fall, the beginning of the season of traditions. Millions of us will be tromping out to the pumpkin farm to pick out the perfect jack-o-lantern in the crisp autumn air. It’s a romantic image, to be sure. What could this tradition have to do with optimizing your corporate sustainability practice? Read on!

As of the 2010 Census, about 81 percent of the U.S. population lived in urban areas. We’re far away from the sources of our food and goods…farther still from the visible consequences of our hunger for more. Our daily environments provide little or no exposure to spaces that have not been rigidly adapted for our convenience. But in our flat screen existences, we know we’ve lost something…many recent studies point to our collective yearning to return to the simple and real. We’re suffering from nature deficit disorder!

For many, annual jaunts to the pumpkin patch provide a bit of rejuvenation. But nowadays, there are more year-round opportunities for these experiences. Struggling family farmers have been turning their homesteads into tourist attractions in an effort to turn a profit. It turns out that agri-tainment (or agritourism) is fertile ground for the rich, values-based back-to-simple experiences urbanites crave. Pick your own produce, meander through a corn maze, commune with the cows and sample some fresh apple cider…this industry has shown that occasional trips to the farm helps visitors stay in touch with family, agrarian, spiritual and ethical values. These are some of the ideals that help us to take personal actions to promote sustainability.

Family farms have become popular school field-trip destinations to help kids understand where milk and eggs and vegetables come from. At farms like these, tourists can actually pay for the privilege of working on a real farm for a day or two. And the adventurous ones can even rent a cow for a while. This all boils down to tangible experiences of exercising values that lay somewhat dormant in our urban and suburban environments. Necessary and beneficial as these once-in-awhile experiences can be, how can corporate entities harness these insights?

Help employees plant some seeds!

In the New York Times, Kim Severson reported that corporate gardens are springing up at major companies like PepsiCo, Google, Yahoo, Aveda, Kohl’s, Best Buy, Intel, Toyota and Target, among others. Onsite organic gardens are becoming a valued new employee benefit at a time when health care, pensions and holiday bonuses wane. They are therapeutic, morale-boosting spaces for both gardeners and non-gardeners and an unmistakable demonstration of a committed culture of sustainability.

Many corporate sustainability initiatives are tightly-controlled top-down programs. Few day-to-day employees help to design them and, therefore, few participate in them with real enthusiasm. Employees don’t burst with pride about the personal difference they made by simply working for a company that reduced their carbon footprint by 17.5 percent last year. But innovators are realizing the value of giving employees very personal experiences…traditions to celebrate nature and memories of building something meaningfully and tangibly sustainable together.

Maybe we can learn more about innovative business practices from the agri-tainment industry. This local farm is certainly building a lot a buzz this week with the world’s largest QR-code corn maze!

By-the-by, it’s time to plant Fall bulbs. I’m planting Fritillaria imperialis this year!