Pepsi Co's Counting Carbon

This story, about Pepsi Co calculating the carbon footprint of their Tropicana orange juice brand, ran in the NY Times this morning:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/22/business/22pepsi.html?partner=permalink&exprod=permalink

It's a good example of a company taking responsibility for the environmental effects of both their supply chain and production. As I have heard several times in the first semester of my MBA, "If you don't measure it, you can't manage it".

The most carbon-heavy step in the process? The actual growing of our beloved citrus fruit, specifically the abundance of nitrogen-based fertilizer that is used on the fruit.

What will they do next? Pepsi Co's plan is to work with researchers at the University of Florida to develop a way to grow oranges that create less carbon emissions. It would be awesome to see a movement toward organic orange growing as a result of this information ...

They also plan to create consumer education around carbon footprint numbers. According to this article, Pepsi Co will be among one of the first companies to provide actual carbon emissions numbers to its consumers.

MLK: A day on, not a day off

That was always our motto when I was working with AmeriCorps, and I think it's a pretty good one. Though many of us do not have classes or work on this snowy New England day, I would ask us to pause and remember the person who we celebrate on this day. What an inspiration his dream is, and how fitting for our country to celebrate MLK's legacy on the day before we officially welcome Barack Obama as our nation's 44th president.

I've traditionally participated in a national day of service on MLK day, but just didn't make any arrangements to do it this year. I want to give a shout out to the NW PA AmeriCorps VISTA Project, though. I know they will be "stuffing the bus" with much needed supplies for NW PA nonprofit agencies many times over the next two weeks in honor of MLK's legacy of service. Thanks for making a difference, VISTAs!

In closing, I'll share one of my favorite quotes from Dr. King: "Take the first step in faith. You don't have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step." I have reflected upon these words many times for many different reasons, and they always just seem to inspire me.

fRugAl weekend fun

I've spent this last weekend before classes start doing some fun things around Boston with my brother, who came to visit. Always a fan of fun things that fit neatly into my grad student budget, I'll share with you two great entertainment options in our fine city that cost me a grand total of $6 and provided hours of fun. I learned some new things too!

First on the list: the USS Constitution museum. Part of the city's Freedom Trail, this museum is located in the Charlestown Navy Yard. A $3 donation is suggested, which is used to help directly fund the museum. The amount of history present in this space is well worth your donation, and who can resist a tour of a battleship built in 1797?! Do you know why she's called "Old Ironsides"?
http://www.ussconstitutionmuseum.org/

Second on the list: the MIT Museum. Admission is only $3 for students (and is free on Sunday mornings between 10am and noon if you get out of bed early). They had an enlightening exhibit on artificial intelligence, as well an exhibit of holograms. Rounding it out was a room filled with tiny fragile machines created by a scholar who calls himself half artist and half engineer. And of course you can learn about the history of MIT by strolling through a room filled with remnants of this great institution's legacy. Overall, I was very impressed.
http://web.mit.edu/museum/

Check them out!

Goals for '09:

It's fun to think about goals for this year, because they get to be pretty lofty! I'll hopefully graduate with my MBA and have a fabulous new job by this time next year.

So, here goes:

• Internship(s). I'd like to do an internship or two before I graduate, which will hopefully help me to further clarify the type of work that I want to do after graduation and give me the opportunity to get some experience and meet some interesting people.
• Volunteer work. I haven't done quite as much of this during my first semester as would have liked, so I'm going to try to add it back into my schedule this semester.
• Team Consulting Project. I have to do this to graduate, but I'm really looking forward to it. I'm excited to see what organizations applied and who I'll get to work with on this project.
• Securing a job! This will probably (hopefully) happen closer to the end of '09, but it never hurts to start thinking ahead.
• Balance. I am setting the goal for myself to have all of my work done an hour before I want to go to bed on most evenings so I can spend that time reading for fun or writing or just mindlessly watching TV. I've determined that laying in bed falling asleep while reading cases is not a productive use of my time and I'm going to change that.

There's my short list. Good luck on your goals (or resolutions, as some like to say) for this year!

Ready or not!

It's almost time to start classes again. Break went unbelievably fast, but it's time to get my head back in the game for my second semester of grad school. This semester's lineup includes: Strategic Management, Operations Management, Financial Management, Corporations and Communities, and some sort of accounting class.

Lots of management things to learn this spring! I'm excited about Corporations and Communities, too. It seems like there will be several good guest speakers, and the intersection of business and communities is something that I am very interested in studying. I'm pretty sure that's what I wrote about in my admissions essay. So, this class seems like it will be exciting!

And accounting - I'm attempting to incorporate some extra accounting courses into my program through Brandeis' consortium program. This means that I can take classes at several schools around the Boston area and have them count toward my degree. It's a great opportunity to take advantage of, and I'm excited to experience courses at other universities. I'm hoping to get into an accounting class at Bentley for this spring semester. Fingers crossed!

Reflections on the first semester

Well, I'm officially finished with 1/4 of my MBA! I took my final final late last week and am now just waiting for grades to be posted. I'm hoping to see lots of letters that look like upside-down V's with a line across the middle.

I've had some time to think about the past few months now that school work is on hiatus for a few weeks. I happen to think that reflection is one of the most valuable parts of an experience (more on that later!), so I'd like to share a few of my reflections on my first semester with you:

• Grad school has been challenging but very rewarding, already. I like the course work that I am doing and am inspired by what some of the alumni of my program are doing to make our world a better place.
• People and culture can make a grad school experience. I feel so lucky that I ended up in the class of people that I have. I learn so much from my colleagues - from their sharing of life experiences to their thoughts on the future and where to go next. I love that the faculty and staff know my interests and are involved in student life and not only in academia. I feel like part of a community, which is super helpful when making a geographic transition as well.
• Moving is always hard, but can also be extremely rewarding. It's been really difficult to leave behind people that I love and care about in pursuit of a new adventure, but the people I've met and the experiences I've had in just one semester have made this transition worthwhile. I'm learning a lot here in Boston and am starting to establish a network of friends and mentors.
• I had a hard time adjusting to being a full-time student again! This surprised me - I thought I'd be right back at it and loving it all the time. But, I missed working and my regular schedule and my PA people. It felt a little surreal at first to have full-time student as my occupation. I don't really have any good advice for conquering this one, but just know that it might be a possibility, even if you are 100% excited about going back to school.
• Finally, I am sure that I ended up in the right place. I think I am gaining the skills and meeting the people here that I need to be inspired and succeed in fulfilling my goals.

Thanks for reading and enjoy the holidays! Next year at this time you'll hopefully be reading about the completion of my MBA and my graduation from the Heller School!

Happy socially responsible holidays!

I was reading an article in the Boston Globe this morning about how often people that are very eco-friendly & socially conscious throughout the year totally give it up at the holidays in the spirit of spreading holiday cheer. It got me to thinking about my own holiday habits. I often indulge in what might be considered socially responsible holiday habits both in the interest of social impacts and in the interest of my lean budget. Especially my extremely lean grad student budget. Especially in the past few years, I've worked hard to make my holidays less about consumerism and more about spreading the love.

I usually try to make a few gifts - usually lots of cookies or an afghan or something. What spreads holiday cheer better than a gift "handmade with love"? And what reduces grad school stress better than a little holiday baking? I also always reuse gift bags and boxes. I've probably never actually purchased a gift bag from a store. The shopping bags that you get from stores if you choose to shop for a few gifts in this way are often beautiful packaging, too.

I'll admit that it's hard to completely give up shopping for gifts. So though I often make a few gifts, I always buy a few also. My philosophy around buying gifts is that I want to make sure I purchase items that people will actually use. Who needs another knick-knack sitting around the house collecting dust?

This year, I tried to purchase several gifts from various fundraisers. My holiday gifts this year contributed to students' travel expenses for service trips and an affordable housing coalition in a neighboring community. I also love to give food gifts. Fair trade & organic coffee and chocolate are a few delicious suggestions. Grounds for Change (groundsforchange.com) has a great website & philosophy if you don't have any fair trade coffee retailers close to where you live. Ten Thousand Villages has some beautiful gift options too, and supports fair trade craft sales for artisans in developing countries. I also think cookbooks are a great gift idea. Foodie friends will use this gift for years to come, and perhaps they will purchase local organic food while enjoying it.

Finally, here are a few fun websites about this topic that I have come across:
Grist.org: http://www.grist.org/feature/2007/11/20/stuff-free/index.html
Treehugger: http://www.treehugger.com/giftguide/

So get out there, spread some holiday cheer and save your pocketbook and the planet from further demise!