Letter from a Supporter

On December 29, The Plain Dealer published an article about BrownFlynn, focusing on the growth of our business despite a major recession.  While BrownFlynn is small, even for a boutique sustainability consulting firm, we have spent the last year developing a new training and education division—BrownFlynn Learning—that offers the nation’s first GRI-certified training program.  Additionally, BrownFlynn expanded its business to include adjunct consultants across the nation. 

In response to the Plain Dealer article, we received the following letter which we would like to share:

“It is difficult to believe that BrownFlynn ‘saw its business drying up’ a year ago according to the article featured in the business section of the Plain Dealer in December of 2009. I subjectively make the statement in response to the impressive information I felt compelled to gather about the company after reading the article. BrownFlynn’s mission ‘commits to create a world in which all companies operate in a manner that provides for the freedom of current and future generations’ ability to prosper.’ The poignant mission statement confirms my belief that the successful future of all domestic and international business is dependent on the awareness and implementation of sustainable practices. According to the World Commission on Environment and Development in 1987, ‘Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.’ The notion that BrownFlynn appears to have formulated its mission statement based on this quote reveals its devotion to the practice. Further, they establish credibility by repeatedly stating on their website that they continue ‘walking the talk’ even if each action or effort might seem insignificant to others. In other words, all that may seem insignificant actually has a great lasting impact on the whole and it is critical to ‘practice what you preach’.

Building a green economic engine for Cleveland’s future

David Cooperrider of CWRU’s Fowler Center for Sustainable Value wrote this article that was published in The Plain Dealer yesterday:

“A green economic engine can drive Cleveland’s future”

Sometime over the next 12 months, we will emerge from the recession. Clearly, it is not too soon, as a city, to aggressively and confidently close the book on what some have called “the quiet crisis.” Our collective attention for at least the next 10 years — our decade of determination — needs to be on building the economic engine of the future.