FEATURE ARTICLE

A GREENER DOMINICAN:

'Bringing It Home' Makes the Strongest Impression

A marine biologist specializing in coral reefs, Vania Coelho is alarmed by what's happening to our oceans -- the trash accumulating in the Pacific and the plastic debris that sea creatures mistakenly believe is food. Cringing, she talks of birds dying from a diet of plastic, some of which has been identified as originating from World War II and testament to the everlasting, nasty nature of the manmade substance. "What have we done? In the past, maybe we didn't know better, but we do know today."

As assistant professor of biology at Dominican University, she's teaching a new generation of students that respecting the planet isn't just about protecting the environment: "We're talking about our own existence." And as chair of the Greener Dominican initiative, Coelho is helping with the school's effort to adopt sustainability as part of its business operations. "We want to be a role model."

The operational moves of buying local, organic food; waste reduction; and green landscaping practices share space on Greener Dominican's agenda with purchasing practices that favor recycled and fair trade products - which, in turn, adds incentive for vendors to follow the university's lead. The company that manages food services for the cafeteria, for example, has already banned Styrofoam; other earth-friendly measures are on the table.

Creating Awareness

"Bringing it home" is Coelho's mantra, related to both the Greener Dominican program and her classroom style. Students go into the community to volunteer with local environmental groups, and they are given lab assignments that engage them in hands-on problem solving.

"Being actively involved in a solution increases awareness. It helps students grasp how serious the problem is," she says. The added bonus of getting involved: "You have a wonderful feeling about yourself when you're doing something to help."

Coelho the scientist pauses before sharing her vision of the future, because it isn't a pretty one. "If there is no change now in how we live on the Earth, I can't describe what will happen, other than to call it cataclysmic." What Coelho does have is optimism that solutions are forthcoming, in part based on what would seem only logical: "The consequences of doing nothing are so extreme, I can't see how humanity wouldn't try to change."

Moving forward won't be easy, and Coelho urges "endless patience and persistence. We can't feel discouraged. If we begin to get frustrated, then we just have to work even harder."

FOR MORE INFORMATION

Visit Vania Coelho's Greener Dominican Web site.

STORIES BY KAREN PETERSON  |  PHOTO BY JOCELYN KNIGHT

Getting Greener by Degree

Green MBA program at Dominican is helping change the way the world works

Dominican's John Stayton and Vania Coelho

Battling climate change will take more than swapping lightbulbs: It will require the restructuring of the entire lightbulb industry to successfully switch from old-style incandescent bulbs to energy-efficient bright ideas, whether fluorescent or LED. That's just one tiny example of the massive upheavals ahead as business tackles what John Stayton, director of Dominican University's new green graduate program, the MBA in Sustainable Enterprise, calls the "extraordinarily complex task" of retooling the status quo.

"We are going to have to change the way we do and make everything. It can be either intimidating or a source of incredible opportunity," says Stayton, co-founder, with Jane Lorand, of the program that began at New College of California in Santa Rosa before staff and curriculum moved to the tree-lined Dominican campus in central San Rafael. Classes began this fall.

Stayton, who also teaches courses included in the two-year program - one of the first of its kind in the United States - is solidly in the "opportunity" camp and claims as proof the caliber of the program's first 80 students. "They have deeply held environmental and social values, and recognize that humanity is in ecological and social crisis," says Stayton. "At the same time, they are compelled to align their careers and lives with developing the needed solutions."

Students also break demographic molds: In age, they range from 22 to 65. Gender-wise, they're two-thirds female, which prompts Stayton's observation that women tend to be "altruistic and inclusive" in their thinking - two attributes, he adds, that coincide with what sustainability, as a term, encompasses: protecting the way we live "in a way that doesn't compromise future generations." Older students, he says, have "completed successful careers and are now embarking on new journeys."

The New Silicon Valley

Classes are designed to address corporate social responsibility, environmental sustainability, and social justice, but students come to the program armed with goals that represent the spectrum of green leanings: among them, clean-tech energy, green building, and marketing.

"We look at what they need to learn to advance in their chosen careers," Stayton says of the career track the students choose, though generally all can be bundled under three categories: entrepreneurship - "starting companies to fill the vast number of opportunities" that Stayton says green business represents; "intra-preneurship," which he defines as preparing students to become "change agents within companies" - the folks who wear the green-age monikers of chief sustainability officer and director of corporate responsibility; and consulting, either through their own companies or by joining established firms.

All three categories, according to Stayton, represent the tip of the boom to come, because today's green business and green tech research and development push is far from a fad - it is the color of the new business landscape. "It's the new Silicon Valley," he says.

Green Futures

Stayton, who drives a car powered by vegetable oil and lives on a working organic farm in Windsor, north of Santa Rosa, is also quick to dispel a common misconception - that "green" and "business" uttered in the same breath is an oxymoron.

Certainly some are guilty of "green washing," the derisive term for green-era carpetbaggers. Yet the business community has focused on sustainability issues longer and far more aggressively than the general public, at least until recently, Stayton, a former high-tech industry executive, advises.

"A lot has been going on under the surface," he says - activity that includes corporate sustainability programs and environmental management systems that are well ensconced in the corporate business structure. Also pushing the green envelope for global businesses is the European Union, which for years has been setting stringent rules on the use of chemicals, on recycling, and on packaging.

The last two years, however, have been witness to a consumer-driven green deluge, giving business a visible carrot for making operational and product changes. Also luring more businesses to green practices, says Stayton: They are beginning to recognize that by reducing waste and consumption in-house, they can become much more efficient - and save money.

While the future may not be rosy in terms of what lies ahead climate-wise, for green professionals their job has just begun. The work needed to help heal the planet "is going to take a long time," says Stayton, who predicts: "All MBAs are going to be green MBAs someday."

FOR MORE INFORMATION

Dominican University Green MBA program: www.greeenmba.com