Corporate Consumers

New American Dream partners with business  and government to achieve sustainability in the supply chain

By Danielle Lee 

Background
The Center for the New American Dream was assembled 10 years ago out of a Merck-sponsored retreat in northern Virginia, where some of the hundred-plus guests decided to focus on purchasers’ and consumers’ responses to environmental issues.

“When it began,” says Executive Director Lisa Wise, “it was a group of really committed environmentalists that said there was really something missing from the environmental movement…and they decided that was everyday consumerism.”

New American Dream, based in Takoma, Md., works with businesses, individuals and communities to provide the tools for members to consume responsibly through their national membership organization, the Responsible Purchasing Network.

“We looked at government purchasing and large-scale purchasers as being a great point of leverage for introducing green purchasing practices,” says Wise, “and seeing that as an opportunity to really shift marketplaces toward the production and manufacturing of products that were produced on a larger scale, and hoping that over time that really trickles down to the individual consumer.”

This network provides a comprehensive purchasing guide for renewable energy, computer electronics, recycled paint, hybrid fleets, lighting, cleaning supplies and other relevant items.

Recent Successes
New American Dream helped broker some of these eco-friendly product purchases for organizations and other entities, including the state of Wisconsin, which will culminate in the country’s largest state purchase of renewable energy. The NGO also has worked with Ann Arbor, Mich., to help institute a fuel-reducing Green Fleets program and the states of Iowa, Washington and Montana are on the membership roster.

New American Dream also recently helped create EPEAT (Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool), used for environmental computer standards that have resulted in $200 billion worth of contracts in that industry.

Patagonia is  the only corporation among the 106 members, although the network opened membership less than a year ago and Wise says it is actively recruiting more companies.

“Were really eager to reach out and grow our corporate base,” Wise says. “[The network] is for the Googles of the world and Microsofts of the world; they purchase in large scale and we have guides that help them do that really responsibly.”

Wise says some “highly visible, large-scale” companies have recently contacted them about membership, but she declined to reveal the names until negotiations have concluded.

Current Initiatives
New American Dream recently has focused on paper as the Responsible Purchasing Network offers a 100 percent recycled-paper procurement that members can buy into. These large orders drive down the normally “prohibitively expensive” price of recycled paper.

The network has been in talks with both Office Depot and the U.S. House of Representatives, through its Green the Capitol Initiative, about utilizing this procurement, and fundamentally changing the way both parties buy paper.

New American Dream has also partnered with New Hampshire-based Stonyfield Farm, which featured New American Dream individual outreach information on its yogurt lids and funds the Climate Counts project to pair companies and consumers in efforts to fight global warming.

New American Dream is currently looking at a partnership with Climate Counts, which rates companies’ efforts to combat climate issues with online scorecards.

Upcoming Trends
New American Dream’s long-term goals of responsible consumerism and social justice require individuals to overhaul their values, says Wise.

Although concerned about the current “throwaway society,” Wise sees companies like clothing manufacturer Nau taking innovative steps to design products that last many “fashion seasons.”

The organization will also be bolstering its resources, building best practices and adding new consumer guides as funding increases.
Wise sees New American Dream as filling the gap between decision-makers recognizing the need to reduce climate impact and purchasers try to implement that plan.

“There aren’t best practices or models about how to do that well,” says Wise. “I think we’re really innovative as a nonprofit that’s able to educate and build awareness among both individuals and institutions simultaneously. We provide the why and the how.”