We’re ready to spread the word about sustainability at the SXSW Eco conference happening this October in Austin, but we need your help. Please vote for our four presentation proposals. All you have to do is register as a SXSW PanelPicker (it’s quick and painless), search for “Sustainable America” and give us a thumbs up for each one. Hurry…voting ends May 24.
You’ll find more info and direct links to Sustainable America’s SXSW Eco proposals below. Learn more and spread the word!
Optimus PRI: Making Transformative Investments
This is a panel discussion led by four experts in Program-Related Investments. Panelists include an expert on sustainable energy who is currently merging efforts of five foundations and the US Department of Energy; a farmer who runs a cooperative investors group; the leader of a peer-to-peer global business accelerator; and a reformed Wall Street analyst investing in sustainable agriculture and energy projects. The panel will address the opportunities and challenges in making investments in early stage companies in sustainable energy and agriculture.
Program-Related Investments (PRIs) are made to support charitable or socially positive activities that involve the potential return of capital within an established time frame. PRIs include financing methods commonly associated with banks or other private investors, such as loans, loan guarantees, and even equity investments in commercial ventures for charitable or socially positive purposes.
Food-Fuel F’Up: 7 Steps to a Sustainable America
Food is fuel. The consumption of food and fossil fuels are inextricably linked. Their production is nearing capacity, and shortages in both are a very real near term possibility. Without a concerted effort at all levels to separate the two—and to develop solutions to agricultural and energy shortcomings—we will be faced with a global crisis. Sustainable America is on a mission—to make our nation’s food and fuel systems more resilient, efficient, and sustainable. We are creating national campaigns to change consumer behavior around reducing food and fuel waste, and increasing alternative food and fuel production. This presentation will briefly examine the ways in which we are using fuel all along the value chain in food production, and the ways that food is diverted into our fuel tanks. It will then identify seven distinct areas where citizens can act and make a difference in their own communities.
A Sustainable Content Strategy
Your organization needs to be talking about what you’re doing, staying in the global and national conversation of current issues, and engaging your audience on a daily, sometimes hourly, basis. On Twitter, on Facebook, on your blog, and beyond. How do you make that work? By making sure your organization has a dedicated content strategy—writers, reviewers, researchers, and leadership with clearly defined roles and schedules for making sure your message goes out on time, on-message, and on top of the viral media pile. We’ll share our success story with a nationally recognized sustainability organization, Sustainable America, and share with you the toolset and protocols we use to make it happen.
Want to Change the World? Wait a Couple Months
When you are looking to change the world, the last thing you feel like you should do is wait. It goes against every fiber of your being - every day new ideas, new connections, new problems drive you into action and prod you to shout your message as loudly as you can.
Though this compulsion to broadcast your cause (or product) is obviously vital to success, too often organizations jump the gun with their launch. Non-profits, startups, consultancies, and individuals all continually push their message long before they have taken the time to fully evolve their brand and establish the assets key to fostering success. Countless ‘launch’ campaigns waste thousands of dollars and months of valuable time by focusing on ‘making a splash’ instead staying focused on making a lasting impact.
In this talk, Michael Nieling, Creative Director of Ocupop will describe how restraint mixed with careful planning can position your launch to not just raise eyebrows but to actually change the world.
