People’s Grocery is having a second workday of the 2007 year at the Sunol Agriculture Park and Farm. On Sunday May 22nd, staff, interns and volunteers will be heading down to Sunol, near the city of Pleasanton in eastern Alameda County, to plant peppers, watermelon and okra. They are looking for more hands to help out with springtime seed planting and working the land. The garden supplies fresh and organic food for the West Oakland community and is transforming the local food system.

To join the group, RSVP Jason Uribe, Farm Manager for People’s Grocery at (510) 504-3664 or email at Jason@peoplesgrocery.org, by Friday 5/20/07.

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Yesterday evening the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco presented a panel called: “Green Capital: Profit and The Planet?” Panelists included Peter Liu, Founder of the New Resource Bank; Hunter Lovins, faculty member of the San Francisco-based Presidio School of Management and co-author of Natural Capitalism; Steve Pinetti, Senior Vice President of Kimpton Hotels; and Will Rogers, President of The Trust for Public Land.

My guess is that the question mark in the program title asks: Can businesses implement green and socially progressive best practices without cutting into profits? The answer was a resounding yes. And in many cases, businesses should save money or make more.

Almost any discussion about values-driven business and sustainability will refer to the “triple bottom line,” also known as “People, Planet, Profit.” In the case of Kimpton Hotels, Steve Pinetti described why his company is committed to this approach to business and lessons learned along the way. From his illustrations of Kimpton’s experiences integrating environmental and socially-responsible principles into the business model must lead to a solid and strategic implementation that reaches everyone from the employees to guests. For the program to succeed, the third P - profit, relies on the most effective investment in the first two Ps - “ People and Planet.

It took six months to identify the program and one year to incorporate it into the business plan. It also took one year to find adequate cleaning supplies for the rooms. For example, they knew that if the cleaning agent did not foam, then the cleaning staff would think it was not working and likely use an excessive amount. Now after 3 years, they have identified 44 viable alternatives for their supplies. And according to a guest survey, 16% said that they were there because of the company’s environmental commitment. Based on the responses to their program, Pinetti firmly believes that “people want to do business with folks who share the same values.”

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In Lester R. Brown’s recent book “Plan B 2.0:” Rescuing a Planet Under Stress and a Civilization in Trouble, one chapter is devoted to designing sustainable cities. The book highlights the huge unrealized potential for urban gardening in the United States including the hundreds of thousands of urban vacant lots. While we hear more and more that producing and buying food locally has numerous benefits for local economies and the environment, the book also cites “a regenerative effect” when vacant lots are transformed from eyesores–weedy, trash-ridden dangerous gathering places–into bountiful, beautiful, and safe gardens that feed people’s bodies and souls.

In Oakland, California, People’s Grocery has mobilized communities to transform blighted lots into sustainable gardens full of fruit trees, herbs, vegetables and compost piles. Check out their programs and blog here.

In 2006, two University of California at Berkeley researchers completed a food systems assessment for Oakland, California with the goal of assessing the city’s capability of producing at least 30 percent of its food needs within the immediate region. They found that with 35 community-based gardens and over 20 million acres in agricultural production surrounding Oakland within a 300-mile radius, there is significant potential for boosting a sustainable food-based economy.

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Recently, I spoke with Ian Kim, policy director for the Oakland-based Ella Baker Center about his organization’s aspirations of building opportunities for disadvantaged communities in the “new green economy.” With an affinity for creating memorable names like “Silence the Violence” and “Books not Bars,” I was immediately struck by the campaign called “Reclaim the Future” and its “Apollo Challenge.”

Simply put, they are urging supporters to sign on, challenging Oakland to create sustainable jobs and energy independence within 10 years, the same amount of time President Kennedy gave the nation for “landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the Earth.” In 1969, Apollo 11 met the lunar challenge after 192 hours. In the Winter 2007 issue of Yes! Magazine, the Center’s executive director Van Jones and communications director Ben Wyskida wrote about their ideas for creating high quality jobs for Oakland residents while cleaning up the environment, improving public health and helping the region achieve energy independence through the promotion of alternative energy technologies.

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