In conjunction with Northern Trust’s Global Fund Services (GFS) group, our disability business resource council (DBRC) has launched a program of support, awareness and education around mental health at work. Although one-in-four people in the UK will experience mental ill-health, and sickness absence due to mental health issues is rising, mental health is still a highly stigmatized subject. This discrepency poses a significant problem to workplaces.

For years, people have debated the question of whether paper derived from wood pulp can truly be environmentally friendly. To answer this question, you must consider the sustainability of the source of the wood or other materials used for fiber production, the amount of fiber, water, energy, and other resources used in production, the amount and fate of pollutants generated during the production process, and the potential recyclability or biodegradability of the end product. In short, the entire product life-cycle. Such an assessment clearly lies beyond the ability of the average consumer. But fortunately, the latest version of the Environmental Paper Network’s Paper Calculator makes the job much easier for governmental, NGO, institutional and corporate purchasers.

The nation’s largest cities are getting even greener, according to the fifth annual U.S. Green Building Adoption Index by CBRE and Maastricht University. Researchers have found green certified office space across America’s 30 largest metros has reached 41 percent of market totals – the highest in the index’s history.

Ask Anna Pascucci about her experience becoming involved with the Amgen Biotech Experience (ABE) program and her responses are poetic, romantic even:

Whether beach strolling on the east coast of the United States or along Manila Bay, you can expect to see a sharp contrast between natural beauty and a spectacle of plastic waste. Sullied beaches are just one manifestation of an ecological crisis that continues to expand unabated as the hand-wringing and debate struggles to yield substantive commitments to address the waste challenge. Worldwide, 73 percent of beach litter is plastic, the ubiquitous material that benefits and harms our wellbeing in equal measures.

Fifteen Duke Energy apprentice and journeyman lineworkers from Indiana, Ohio and Kentucky earned the right to advance to the International Lineman's Rodeo in Bonner Springs, Kans., Oct. 12-13, after competing in the Duke Energy Midwest Lineman's Rodeo in Plainfield on Aug. 11.

When World Wide Technology (WWT) first started reselling Dell computers in 1990, the minority-owned company had just seven employees in St. Louis. Today WWT is a global technology solution provider with $10.4 billion in annual revenue and more than 4,600 employees. And the company received the 2017 Dell EMC North America Partner of the Year Award.

In this edition of the Advisory Services newsletter, we share examples of how pro bono can help communities around the globe prepare for natural disasters. We discuss how to engage even your busiest employees in pro bono service. And we look at a pro bono program model that began in the U.S. and has been replicated successfully abroad.

A company’s decision to remove plastic straws from their kitchen doesn’t just affect their kitchen, it encourages straw production companies to come up with more environmentally friendly options and it cuts down on the company’s own footprint. Bacardi, for instance, has committed

Erb alumnus Marcos Mancini is a country manager in Buenos Aires, Argentina, with the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) Inquiry into the Design of a Sustainable Financial System. He talked with Erb about the inquiry’s work and the sustainable finance issues involved.