Our Sustainability Policy
We are new and very small. Nevertheless we have a sustainability policy (as you would expect us to have) to identify, quantify and manage our impacts, and aimed at enabling us to be net-positive (by which we mean an organisation which makes a verifiable overall positive contribution to society and the environment). These impacts are currently small too. This policy will need to evolve and grow as we do, and we will need a reporting framework to suit. But that’s in the future, so in the meantime:
What we believe
We’ve collectively been involved in publishing on the environment and sustainability for nearly 20 years. We are motivated by acknowledgment of the environmental and social challenges we face as a society and the recognition that the ‘business as usual’ economy is part of the problem. We are inspired by the emerging evidence base of forward thinking, innovative strategies and practices being implemented by organisations around the world, and by the belief that such practices, if adopted more widely, could be a major driver of positive change. We set up Dō with the express aim of helping to harness, present and disseminate this body of practice as effectively as possible, and we have endeavoured to shape our business model and conduct accordingly from the outset.
Consonant with this, Dō aims to minimise any negative impacts on the environment and on the communities we touch, by being aware of what those impacts are and how they may increase as we evolve and by creating products and processes which, on balance and over the breadth of our social and environmental impacts, are net positive.
What we currently do
Product: Our primary product is digital files (ebooks). The direct impacts are located primarily in the energy consumption behind the production, storage and delivery of these files. Indirect impacts are located in the usage of the devices to access and read the files – PCs, smartphones, tablets and e-Readers (Nook, Kobo, Kindle etc.).
We also offer our books in print on demand to those who require print. This means we produce and hold no stock, but respond to whatever demand there exists for print, order by order. Our supplier is Lightning Source who are FSC certified http://www1.lightningsource.com/ChainOfCustody/
Operations: We are currently a virtual company, and do not run a central office. We use Skype and teleconferencing to conduct business meetings, minimising the need to travel to conduct daily business. When we do need to travel, we prioritise the use of public transport to attend meetings and events in person. Any international travel which requires flying will be minimal and justified only when business critical and where there is no alternative. We run our home offices responsibly, including the sourcing and use/reuse of equipment and stationary. Our conference banners are made of bamboo frames and fibre (these are provided by Seacourt, the world’s first zero waste to landfill printer) our flyers are printed on 100% recycled paper (provided by Big Sky) as are our business cards (from Moo).
Supply: Our website hosting is carbon neutral ecohosting. We currently use Dropbox to store most of our files and data, and we use Google for email and some document sharing. Energy consumption (and associated emissions) supporting the ‘cloud’ are likely to become our major impact. Here’s what Google say http://www.google.com/green/energy/. Dropbox uses Amazon Web Services for server storage. Here’s a Greenpeace report on the greenness of the cloud and the relative performance of the major cloud service providers http://www.greenpeace.org/international/en/publications/Campaign-reports/Climate-Reports/How-Clean-is-Your-Cloud/. Other outsourced supply is in the form of editorial services. These are provided electronically by a small team of UK-based freelancers whom we know in person. We will be conducting our first carbon footprinting exercise, and offset calculation, shortly.
Other impacts: We have robust values written into our articles of association, committing us to providing enjoyable and fulfilling work, and to delivering a measurable social dividend as soon as we are able. At this early stage this latter is a promissory note, but we will outline what we are doing as things progress.
