If you have an opportunity to speak with a diverse leadership group that isn't well versed on sustainability issues and more concerned about economics/jobs, how do you move them from a "who cares" mentality to a "we get it" mentality? How do you change attitudes?

-Companies are at very different stages of developing strategies for sustainability.
-Sometimes individual and company concerns aren't aligned -How to describe benefits leaders can relate to? Cost-savings. Can build off of that.
-Young people relate to sustainability
-Baby boomers will be retiring-- will be population movement, changing city populations.
-Evidence that young people are interested? Hard studies? (attendee said he would pass along)
-Economic development angle- could use anecdotes or case studies of companies that are doing sustainability work; peer-to-peer is a great way to generate interest 98%

GHG emissions are community-based and only 2-3% emissions come from municipal sources, but many mayors have signed an agreement to lower GHG emissions for their cities. So there needs to be some community education in order to have any hope in achieving the emissions reduction goals. How do you get companies on board to reduce emissions?

-Could have local competitions-- business v. business or municipality v. municipality
-Have data on emissions.

-Look into company called Breezeplay-- does in-home energy monitoring

--Studies show people reduce energy consumption when they know what they're using
--Utility pays for device installed in homes to monitor energy.
--Technology benchmarks energy use so that neighbors can compete with each other

-Difficult to get people to see more than 3 years ahead of time. -People tend to react to pain. -The human timeline is different from the environmental timeline-- there's a disconnect. -Could frame the issue through a civic perspective-- talk about what the purpose of a city is, what do you care about, why you've chosen to live and lead here, how it's more efficient to live in a city/higher density. Talk about what the city is concerned about (energy, emissions). -Talk about the impact our actions have. -Translate emissions data into motivation. -Winston-Salem Sustainability Resource Center-- under advisory of academic institutions, have resources to help businesses inventory emissions, use students to help -Roundtable discussions with other companies who demonstrate leadership