What is the idea behind Sustainable Business International?
It helps businesses figure out how to put together a corporate responsibility program. It’s a sole business right now, but I plan to add a few people as I grow. What is a sustainable business? There’s a lot of words getting thrown around: “sustainability,” “corporate responsibility.” It’s basically being socially and environmentally responsible, and everything that involves — which is a lot. Say a bit about your background. At Starbucks, I helped create programs on social fairness and protecting the environment in procuring coffee beans and paying the farmers. I also helped reduce the company’s energy and water use, its packaging and the emissions from its roasting plants. And I built up the corporate giving program. I had 26 staffers when I left. I would give a lot of presentations at conferences, and a lot of companies — first partners of Starbucks, and then others — were coming up and asking how to create a CSR program, how to make a business case for it. So I thought there would
