Upcoming Events
The Sustainable Enterprise Alliance holds a number of events for businesses.
April 2013: Collaborating on a City-wide Local First Campaign
Thursday April 25, 2013 from 7:00 PM to 9:00 PM at The Hub Ottawa (71 Bank St, 6th Floor).
You will learn about BALLE (Business Alliance for Local Living Economies) which is North America's fastest growing network of locally-owned, socially responsible businesses. We will also hear from a variety of Ottawa-based groups who currently promote buying local and thinking local first. Together we will engage in conversation during a World Cafe to brainstorm and identify ways that we can collaborate on an annual, ongoing basis.
The Sustainable Enterprise Alliance and Sustainable Eastern Ontario are members of BALLE which believes that local, independent businesses are among our most potent change agents. They believe that small, local businesses can be the starting point for social innovation, aligning commerce with the common good and bringing transparency, accountability, and a caring human face to the marketplace.
Come join us for a discussion about how we can work together to create a unified Local First campaign in Ottawa.
New Networking Series!
SEA and Be Seen (Monthly)
So what is happening? The SEA steering committee is inviting you to come together and catch up, to share a drink and a snack and learn about our plans to re-energize SEA. We want to get your input to ensure that the choices we make reflect your needs and priorities. Our plans have attracted attention from the city of Ottawa, the Chamber of Commerce and many other like-minded organizations.
Besides who doesn't want to get together on a regular basis to talk to peers to consider solutions to common challenges and opportunities to grow our businesses.
Past Events & Materials
Ottawa Centre Eco-District – Opportunities for Sustainable Enterprises
Thurs, Nov. 22 from 7:00 - 9:00 PM at Hub Ottawa - 71 Bank Street.
EcoDistricts are a powerful, new strategy for implementing sustainability on a neighbourhood scale and they are in place in many cities including Portland, Seattle, Austin, Cleveland and London, UK.
“An EcoDistrict is a neighborhood committed to sustainability that links green buildings, smart infrastructure and behavior to meet ambitious sustainability goals over time. EcoDistricts are the right scale to accelerate sustainability — small enough to innovate quickly and big enough to have a meaningful impact.” (Portland Sustainability Institute 2009).
There are exciting plans in place to launch an EcoDistrict right here in Ottawa. We invite you to a panel discussion about the Ottawa Centre EcoDistrict – what it is and how it fits into bigger plans to transform the downtown core. Greg Searle, Executive Director of BioRegional North America and a Hub Ottawa member and James McNeil, RPA, LEED AP, Vice President, Ottawa Green Real Estate Practice Lead, Cushman & Wakefield Ottawa will be our panelists and after a brief presentation they will be on hand to walk us through an interactive discussion.
Health and Wellness in a Workplace--Go Green and Be Healthy
Monday, 22 November 2010
Going green means living sustainably or making decisions in harmony with the planet’s long-term well being. During this presentation, we talked about how the environment impacts our health & well-being. At a global level, environmental health problems can feel overwhelming, but the good news is that we do have control over our surroundings. It’s our home environment that has the most immediate impact on our health. Although larger environmental factors are vital, I will focus on our personal environment and its effect on our health. You will definitely take away some great tips on how to create a healthier personal environment from our Go Green, Be Healthy presentation.
Presenter: Deborah MacDonald, Wellness Consultant.
October 25th: Green Buildings & Workplaces Challenge - one aspect of greening your business
Jess Wells, coordinator of the Green Buildings & Workplaces Challenge at Ecology Ottawa presented on the history of the Challenge, steps for creating a successful green team in your business, and the many supportive resources available for business greening. She also seek your insight on challenges you have faced in implementing greening initiatives related to your business and what resources would make it easier for you to increase the environmental sustainability of your business.
September 27th: Green Business Management Success Stories
Green Business Management Success Stories: Two local case studies of ways to make your business more sustainable
Laura Leet (representing here student team Green Bulb Consulting, currently engaged in work at OneChange) shared her team's work with Green Rebel and Brenda Ball (representing her student team KABIT Consulting and a founding leader of the Sustainable Enterprise Alliance and president of BTC Consulting) shared her team's work with Scouts Canada. Both teams discovered and recommended valuable approaches tailored to meet each of the organization's unique needs - and both presentations stimulated your own thinking about ways to strengthen your organizational commitment and investment in greater triple bottom line success. Algonquin College's class of 2011 will be looking for local businesses to work with this fall and winter, and this session is your chance to find out more about this valuable opportunity to get some wonderfully innovative and free consulting and support for your continued business success.
August 23rd: Business Growth and Greening
Jen Hunter, The Learning Catalyst and Jonathan Wade, Investor Relations at La Siembra and President of Social Delta talked about the business growth and plans for expansion of La Siembra, distributers of Cocoa Camino fairly traded organic chocolate and sugar products.
Jonathan shared both the expansion strategy for this ten year old business and the business case for product diversification, while highlighting La Siembra’s innovative investment approach to support business development.
This session is geared to local businesses who are interested in learning from a successful local green business that:
1) has demonstrated excellent foresight in weathering the recession;
2) is preparing to scale up for greater market demand;
3) continues to deliver on its commitment to build more sustainable economic relationships in producer countries of the food we eat;
4) is engaged in an innovative investment approach for a medium sized ethical business
July 26th:Diversify your Business with Solar
Warren Abar, President of iSolara Solar Power gave a presentation on how to generate extra revenue by turning the roof of your business into a solar electric power plant. With 20 years government guaranteed contracts, business owners gain an excellent revenue stream while simultaneously greening their business image.
June 28th: Greening Your Business 101
The workshop led by Carole Lair of Greenvolution Inc. A networking opportunity, led by Kristina Inrig of Sustainable Foundations Inc., showcased best practices from business leaders and Sustainable Enterprise Alliance members.
Kick-Off Event a success!
The Sustainable Enterprise Alliance Kick-Off Event was held Thursday, June 3rd from 11:30-1:30pm. It was a great success with over 60 participants!
