Project Management and Eco Sustainability

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Project Management and Eco Sustainability

• Adopting a Systems View
• Bruce Hagen
• Senior Program Manager
• Advance Fibre Communications
• May 17, 2001

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This is about the 3 Ps...

• Perspective
• Priorities
• Pfundamentals

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PfundamentalsWhat are the 2 most important
things in project management?

• Project
• Project Manager

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Pfundamentals What is most important thing
Project Managers need to know about their project?

• The Requirements

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Pfundamentals What is a Project Managers most
important project?

• Survival

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Pfundamentals What is the Project Managers most
important requirement?

• Her next breath

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Pfundamentals and how does she meet that
requirement?

• Racehorses!
• (Resources)

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Racehorses Whats the biggest line item in your
project budget?

• Ecosystem Services

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Global Ecosystem Servicesin Trillions of 1998
Dollars

• 1.3 Atmospheric Regulation of Gases
• 2.3 Assimilation, Processing of Waste
• 17 Nutrient Flows
• 2.8 Storage, Purification of Water
• 12.6 Other (e.g. flood control, food
  production)
• Source The Value of the Worlds Ecosystem
  Services and Natural Capital, Nature, May 15,
  1977

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Local Ecosystem Services

• Russian River Aquifer
• Unique natural filtration, only light
  chlorination required before distribution
• Gravel beds being strip mined for use in asphalt,
  concrete. Alternatives available.
• Replacement cost (filtration plant, excluding
  operation costs) .5 billion
• Supervisor Kerns, Cale, Smith, Kelly support
  continued mining
• What would a good PM do?

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Resources How do you monitor and control?

• The Ecological Footprint Calculator

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Ecological Footprints for Countries
Acres per person by country 30 United States 19
Canada 15 Germany, United Kingdom 9
Malaysia, Argentina 5 Columbia, Cuba, China 2
Nepal, Angola, Ethiopia 1 Bangladesh,
Eritrea
http//www.rprogress.org/resources/nip/ef/deficitt
able4_nations.html
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Exploring Equity (Contd)
Total acres x for humans Total world
population

Acres per person
?
?
31 billion acres x .____ 6.1 billion people
Other species
Human use

?
Future
Acres/ person
http//www.math.berkeley.edu/galen//popclk.html
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Exceeding Planetary Capacity
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Our Project Is In Trouble

• 9 out of 10 doctors agree
• More killer storms, droughts
• Sudden Oak Death Syndrome
• Sea level in Petaluma

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What does the good PM do?

• Denial?
• Despair?
• Decisive action.
• Dynamic leadership!

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What does the good PM do?

• Recognize and respond to the work on this
  critical path
• Re-prioritize your tasks, de-scope other
  responsibilities
• Adopt zero cost strategies
• Get and stay informed

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What does the good PM do?

• Get and stay informed
• Read Natural Capitalism
• Use the Web (email me at bruce.hagen_at_iname.com
  for reference sites and email lists)
• Take a TNS workshop (www.naturalstep.org)

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What does the good PM do?

• Walk the talk Reduce your footprint
• Lifestyle changes, the joy of living lighter,
  simpler
• Investments in sustainable living (solar panels
  versus Cisco stock)

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What does the good PM do?

• Change the Institutions
• Get involved (or more involved) with groups
  pursuing sustainability
• Re-invent your business, become a Natural
  Capitalist

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The Natural Step

• TNS Approach Science-Based Framework
• Systems Thinking in Business Context
• Origins in Sweden, by Dr. Karl Henrik-Robèrt
• Scientifically validated
• Applied to business in the U.S.

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Basic Science Principles

• Matter and energy cannot be created or disappear
• Matter and energy tend to disperse
• Quality can be expressed as the concentration and
  structure of matter
• Plant cells are net producers of concentration
  and structure

http//www.naturalstep.org/what/what_science.html
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System Condition 1 What We Take

• Substances from the Earths crust must not
  systematically increase in nature

http//www.naturalstep.org/what/what_cond.html
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System Condition 2 What We Make

• Substances produced by society must not
  systematically increase in nature

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System Condition 3 What We Maintain

• The physical basis for the productivity and
  diversity of nature must not systematically be
  diminished

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System Condition 4 What We Share

• We must be fair and efficient in meeting basic
  human needs

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TNS System ConditionsSummary

• Substances from the Earths crust must not
  systematically increase in nature
• Substances produced by society must not
  systematically increase in nature
• The physical basis for the productivity and
  diversity of nature must not systematically be
  diminished
• We must be fair and efficient in meeting basic
  human needs

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The Funnel Analogy
Resource Availability
Margin for action
Human Impact
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Thesis of Natural Capitalism

• Within developed nations
• 90-95 reduction of material and energy possible
• Can maintain the same quality of service

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Goals of Natural Capitalism

• Account for everything (externalities, and
  itemize all cost-contributing components)
• Do not spend assets

http//www.naturalcapitalism.org/
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Natural Capitalism Strategies

• Radical Resource Productivity
• Dramatically increase the productivity of natural
  resources
• Biomimicry
• Shift to biologically inspired production models
• Service and Flow Economy
• Move to a solutions-based business model
• Investing in Natural Capital
• Reinvest in natural capital

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Interface, Inc.

• 1973 -- broad-loom carpet manufacturing company
  established by CEO Ray Anderson
• 1994 external pressure on environmental record,
  formed task force
• Spear in the chest Ecology of Commerce, by
  Paul Hawken

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InterfaceTotal vs. Sustainable Sales
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InterfaceRedesign of Commerce
http//216.1.140.49/us/company/sustainability/inte
rface_model.asp
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Its okay to start small
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Design

• You cant be a leader over the next five years
  and not be totally into design.
• Tom Peters

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Standard Car Efficiency

• Of the fuel a car consumes
• 80 is lost at the engine (heat, exhaust)
• Of the 20 of the energy that is delivered to the
  wheels
• 95 moves the weight of the car
• 5 moves the driver
• 1 of the fuel consumed moves the driver

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Opportunities for a New Design

• Power loss
• One third used for acceleration, and heats the
  brakes in stopping (energy loss)
• One third heats the six tons of air the car
  pushes through each mile
• One third heats tires and the road in rolling
  resistance.
• Design with lighter materials, for aerodynamics,
  use efficient tires cuts power requirement in
  half

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Elegant Design the Hypercar
http//www.hypercar.com/ http//www.rmi.org/sitep
ages/pid390.asp
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• There is a rapidly growing network of people in
  the world who see the world as it can be, not
  merely as it is. Natural Capitalism

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• The idea of Gaia-- our earth as a single living
  system-- needs no defense, only more
  defenders.

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...like you.
Laurel Hagen, Lafferty Park overlooking Petaluma,
Pacific Ocean