Institute for Sustainable Communication – ECO360 TRUST submited an idea on Justmeans for Social Innovation Awards 2010

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Institute for Sustainable Communication – ECO360 TRUST's Idea

Social Innovation Awards 2010

At ISC we provide scholarships to academically-promising but economically-disadvantaged urban youths enabling them to complete their undergraduate degrees and pursue graduate degrees. Recognizing that sustainability is a complex topic often misunderstood by young people, and knowing that our constituents learn best by example and through experiential learning, in November 2009 we created an outreach campaign under the ‘ECO360’ banner to put sustainability principles into practice. Our primary challenge was finding a product or service with universal appeal that would allow us to “walk the talk” of sustainability. One of our goals was to make the medium the message. We found the solution in redesigning the manufacture, use, distribution, sale & disposal of a commonly used product… the T-shirt. Our solution was to create the "ECO360 RE-shirt." We transformed existing supply chains for manufacturing & printing the product, in ways that would inform young people on the benefits of sustainability in ways that would resonate with them & support fundraising efforts for ISC’s scholarship campaign. Our secondary challenge was to design a cost-effective outreach campaign that could be scaled in size & scope to impact a large group of stakeholders through private and public sector partnerships. We developed a strategy for partnering with the UN, leading NGOs & major corporations in support of the Hopenhagen.org social media campaign with a global reach & wide appeal.

This program engages young leaders and puts our organizations values and strategies into practice by making the medium the message. The extent to which we communicate, learn, collaborate and coordinate our actions in a sustainable manner will determine the fate of humanity and the quality of life enjoyed by current and future generations. ISC's mission is to raise awareness, build capacity and foster the widespread adoption of economically viable, environmentally restorative and socially constructive uses of communication media. Our vision is to be recognized as leaders in the global transformation of media supply chains. Our mission is to foster constructive change in communication practices that allow business, government and individuals to meet the needs of present generations without crossing irreversible thresholds that compromise the ability of future generations to do the same. The ECO360 campaign perfectly aligns our values, strategy and actions in that the medium becomes the practice and the message of sustainability. ECO360 branded RE-shirts transform supply chains, create green jobs, contribute to the economy and support education. The social website and social media campaign for ECO360 was developed by and for our interns enabling them to develop their skills and knowledge in alignment with their educational and career goals.

As the world met in Copenhagen for the United Nations Climate Change Conference, ISC partnered with the Hopenhagen initiative to raise awareness about global climate change and the need to support education for sustainability. ISC's ECO360 campaign raises awareness about the need for climate action through the development of products that recycle waste, reduce water pollution and minimize energy usage while creating local jobs and supporting education.

The shirt fabric is made from 100% recycled PET (plastic bottles), the dye and printing processes utilize no fresh water; the shirts are printed and sewn on demand reducing waste materials; energy costs and inventory; they are designed for cold water care to reduce energy and water usage, all shirts are produced in the USA creating jobs and contributing to the local economy; and, the proceeds from their distribution fund micro-scholarships of $500-$1200 that help young urban students to stay in colleges and complete their degrees.

In addition, the Hopenhagen ECO360 website and social media campaign has helped to raise awareness of a critically important sustainability issue: climate change. To date our site has been visited by 5000 people and our Facebook page has attracted over 1000 followers in 12 countries. The ECO360 brand embodies our principles and RE-shirt is a demonstration of how sustainability can be applied to the medium and message.

ISC is a small non profit organization which is supported by partners, fellows, interns and its all-volunteer management. The ECO360 campaign is created and executed by ISC’s hands-on Executive Director. Under her direction the website, SecondLife presence and social media outreach campaign have been developed and executed by ISC student interns and volunteers as an experiential learning experience during their tenure at ISC. As a "catalyst" organization ISC works with like-minded NGOs, government agencies and companies to develop and deploy innovative programs that leverage our expertise with media and the power of social networks.

The program was launched December 8, 2009. The outcome and impact measures of the program will be the dollars raised for scholarships, the number of corporate partners who improve their purchasing methods through cause marketing campaign partnerships with ECO360, the number of hits on the ECO360 web site, the levels of stakeholder engagement and dialog on our Facebook page and results from periodic opinion polls.

We are also exploring the development of a lifecycle analysis/carbon footprint/social impact calculator that would allow us to estimate the impacts associated with ECO360 products vs. alternatives. During the first half of 2010 ISC projects distribution of 800 units of RE-shirts per month to corporate partners for promotional marketing. During the second half of 2010 ISC projects 1000 RE-shirts per month via corporate partners.

The innovations consist of taking an item commonly used by a large segment of the population, and redesigning its supply chain to transform it into a sustainable product which addresses the environmental, social and economic challenges associated with common production methods. Cotton requires enormous amounts of water to grow. Fabrics that are made of bamboo equally raise environmental and health concerns. We opted to employ a fabric that is created from 100% post-consumer recycled rPET which is readily available as a resource and is recyclable. Each RE-shirt is approx. equal to 7 plastic water bottles. 17-20 % of industrial water pollution comes from textile dyeing and treatment. Using digital printing technology which does not use water in the dyeing and printing process, 7.75 gallons of fresh water is eliminated in the manufacture of each RE-shirt. The sourcing and manufacture of the RE-shirts employ "on-demand" methods reducing energy, resources, inventory and/or waste. We provide the end user with benefits and savings as durability and ease of care. The dyes don’t run, and the shirts can be washed in cold or warm water with the whites, with or without bleach. This reduces wash cycles, saves energy, water and money. ISC is not the creator of the technologies or the processes that enable the break through benefits. We packaged them in such a way that when they are manufactured in the US they provide income for the communities struggling with recession.

The overall goal of the program is the widespread adoption and use of the ECO360 products by brands with sustainability/CSR practices in their cause marketing campaigns, events, and promotional purchases.

First goal is to raise funds for ISC’s micro-scholarship fund. Amounts as small as $500-$1200 enable urban college students to continue with school and get their degrees. The goal for 2010 is to provide 500 scholarships.

The second goal is to raise awareness of ‘sustainability’ vs. ‘green’ within the corporate purchasing departments & help transform purchasing practices where the brands’ values are in alignment with their marketing and promotional campaigns. Even brands that sponsor ‘green causes’ still purchase based on cost from their approved vendors with no regard if the actual ‘substrate’ is in alignment with their corporate CSR/Sustainability practices manufactured in countries with questionable labor and environmental practices. We seek to raise awareness in corporate purchasing and marketing departments as to total value the true cost of products produced by US labor within ethical labor and environmentally responsible manufacturing methods vs. less responsibly produced but "cheaper" alternatives. In 2010 we plan to sign up with 6 brands to produce custom RE-shirts for various campaigns.

We have two key stakeholders groups:

The economically disadvantaged urban scholars we engage through our Facebook page, www.sosreach.org website and through events that we conduct in conjunction with universities and corporate partners.

Corporate, governmental and nonprofit purchasing and marketing executives from who regularly purchase t-shirts for use as promotional and incentive items who we engage though direct appeals and through targeted social media such as LinkedIn, Twitter and Justmeans. All aspects of program are and will continue to be informed through ongoing dialog with our key stakeholders.

We actively employ our www.sustaincom.org, www.sosreach.org, www.eco360.me and Facebook pages to engage our stakeholders and report on progress toward our goals and objectives. We demonstrate our effectiveness through measurable impacts and defined outcomes as described above.

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Kathleen Kaiser 21 February 2010

Any size support and turn a child around, focus them on the future and give them hope. Real recognization, not the junk most schools hand out daily, but a cash scholarship, can help those who have so little, and those students are the beneficiaries of the ISC program.

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http://www.justmeans.com/contestidea?ideaid=MzMw

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