I don't at all like the term in the headline, but I do like the concept, which describes companies' engage employees to adopt "PSPs," personal sustainability practices, that can benefit not only the planet and the individual, but foster common purpose in a workforce. 

I heard of the concept from its progenitor, Adam Werbach, the inspiring-yet-very-complicated environmental leader and thinker. Werbach became the leader of the Sierra Club at 23 but later was all but expelled from the green movement more than once, first when he gave his notorious "environmentalism is dead" speech in 2004, and again when he went to work for Wal-Mart, then the poster child for demonic corporatism, in 2006..

Werbach included the concept of PSPs in an appearance before the Commonwealth Club of California in 2007, his first time back to the club since he'd given his "environmentalism is dead" speech there. To his 2007 appearance, he brought a couple of Wal-Mart employees with him and told their stories of the changes that making one small alteration in their personal lives had made.

Probably not, but you may have noticed, in the left-hand column of this page, that one of my blog categories is PSPs, which I'm sure has illuminated not a single reader what it signifies. But  this is where I got it — the category corrals all my posts on what we've changed in our house for the advancement of sustainability.

Anyway, why bring it up? Because today, Werbach announced a partnership between Satchi & Saatchi S, the company Werbach founded before accepting a merger with the multinational marketing firm, and Angelpoints, "a pioneering provider of enterprise software solutions for employee engagement and responsibility," according to the press release. Essentially, this is exporting the Wal-Mart initiative to a software platform that any company can use to attempt the same process.

Small "news," I suppose, but I love the idea. I am convinced that there is no one magic step individuals must take to begin their shift to sustainability — they just have to take any step. Once that happens, more steps will naturally follow for most people.

And by encouraging that first step among a community, as workplaces inevitably are, will both make each individual's step likely to succeed and help the best steps multiply quickly.