Fresh off of B Corp month in March, we are now at Earth day and the month of B Corp’s Champions retreat in Milwaukie. On Day zero of the retreat, me and my fellow We the Change members will gather for a one-day retreat beforehand, so I’ll have a couple of dozen friends before I go. I’ve been to one other We the Change retreat but it’s my first Champions retreat with the entire B Lab USA and Canada crew.

I look forward to a new experience and to meeting up with some folks that I have yet to meet IRL. I mentioned earlier on LinkedIn that conference season is kicking off and I’m eager to see people, and energized that they are reaching out in advance to let me know they’ll be there.

Going from zero to friends and colleagues

I’ve been a part of the B Corp network for three years so there are many people to meet but because of my position on the Leadership Circle for We the Change,  I also feel that there’s a crew of people I already know. I took my own advice to get involved, give back, and make connections and it’s working. The only thing I’m disappointed about is that the Brewers have home games bookending my time in Milwaukie and are away the exact days I’m there so I won’t get to catch a game.

What are companies doing for Earth Month

Since we can’t all go to Milwaukie for two overlapping retreats, what else is there to do for Earth month?

Last year at this time I wrote about taking actual actions for Earth month in the midst of chaos and this year it doesn’t feel like the landscape has changed. Chaos has given way to burnout and a heavy feeling among the small businesses that I’m in community with so I wanted to share a couple of bright spots I learned about during B Lab’s GreenSHOUTing webinar.

Green Shouting

Hosted by B Lab and Creatives for Climate, the webinar presented concrete ways that sustainable businesses can overcome greenwashing (paying lip service to sustainable practices while making little to no impact) or greenhushing (the phenomenon we see when companies get very quiet about sustainable practices. Not rolling back policies and practices but not talking about them either.)

One big takeaway for me was the study from the end of last year in the Harvard Business Review. It shows the rollback on sustainability is largely a mirage.

” Yes, a handful of high-profile withdrawals have dominated news cycles, but in reality, only 8% of companies have materially rolled back their commitments, and another 5% have altered their public messaging while keeping their programs intact. The far bigger story is that 53% are holding steady and 32% are expanding their efforts.”

Three Global Brands

Creatives for Climate shared their guide for GreenSHOUTING and some larger B Corp certified companies shared the way they GreenSHOUT as examples.

1.Patagonia’s Impact Report– The key is transparency. In the report, the company states “Nothing we do is sustainable.”  They acknowledge that “while every Patagonia product solves a problem in the field, making anything comes with a cost in terms of how and where it was built, and who built it.”

Slightly cheekier is their “fan mail” ads. They address negative comments on the internet about what they do, sometimes by agreeing with the haters.

2. Formula E is the first B corp certified sport. As someone with a kid who loves Formula 1, it’s gratifying in a sport that is built around co2 emissions. I love what they said on the panel which is that they don’t want to be in a club of one. They want to use their commitment to sustainability to drive other sports forward.

3. Tony’s Chocolonely is a staple in my house.  Their ad shows that while the problems they’re trying to solve are serious, the GreenSHOUTing doesn’t have to be.

All this to say that in all of the business networks that are quieting down there are companies that are not only sticking to their guns, but are being loud about it, shouting. They do this because it’s embedded in their company values AND there’s a demand.

American Sustainable Business Network (ASBN)

We’re not all global brands or consumer product companies that lend themselves to this kind of marketing.  Globally people are more interested in climate action than ever. According to this study by the University of Bonn “About two-thirds of the global population state that they are willing to contribute 1% of their income towards the fight against climate change.”

But what is a small B2B business to do, especially in the US where the environmental agenda is fighting for its life?

I’ve been really impressed with the ASBN and how they make taking action easy. I was also energized on a recent call when their Executive Director, Camilla Taylor mentioned that we are now the adults in the room. It’s up to us help direct the policies we’ll live with.

You can start by signing their pledge which includes security, support for the immigrants who work for small companies, affordability in terms of the costs for supporting employees and fair wages , and opportunity for sustainable businesses to grow. I’ve been happy to take action and also receive updates on what they are doing on Capitol Hill.

These are just a few of the bright spots in my Earth month. I’m looking forward to more next week at the conference in Milwaukie.