People, Planet, Profits & Projects

This blog post is coming to you from Cape Cod, indeed almost exactly from the location of the first Thanksgiving.  And it's from this location that we wish our American colleagues the best of this holiday season!

And one of the most traditional parts of the traditional meal served on this very American holiday is cranberry sauce or cranberry relish.

 However, there is concern that the state’s popular native fruit may be affected by climate change. Scientific research indicates that heat stress, insecticides, rising sea levels and other factors will affect the harvesting of this little blood-colored fruit with the distinctively tangy taste.  Botanists have, in fact, been working on projects to develop new cranberry strains that they hope will be hardier.

These are green-by-definition projects, as described in our book, Green Project Management, which, in honor of the holiday, we are renaming Cranberry Project Management.

 An article on the front page of today’s Cape Cod Times newspaper highlights these projects, and the research projects which examine the impact of climate change on cranberries - one of only three native cultivated fruits in the United States. The others are blueberries and Concord grapes.

From the newspaper story:

 Especially in Massachusetts, “we have a special feeling, I guess you’d say, for the little fruit,” said Susan Playfair, author of the new book, “America’s Founding Fruit: The Cranberry in a New Environment.”

 Playfair, whose interest in climate change stemmed from sailing around New England in her youth, gathered The United States produced more than 8 million barrels of cranberries in 2012, according to the Agricultural Marketing Resource Center.

 The cranberry is especially connected to Massachusetts, where it is the state fruit. Cranberry cultivation began on Cape Cod in 1812; Ocean Spray has its world headquarters in Middleboro. In the United data from bogs and researchers, reaching out to Boston University biologist Richard Primack. Along with Primack Lab researchers Elizabeth Ellwood and Caroline Polgar, they published the study “Cranberry flowering times and climate change in southern Massachusetts” last fall. The study found that cranberries flower roughly two days earlier for every 1 degree centigrade temperature increase, Primack explained.

 Complicating the temperature threat is a problem with pollination. A lot of pollinators are being killed by insecticides or fungicides, Primack said.

 “It’s a big problem with cranberries if they’re not getting pollinated enough, so often, their fruit yield is lower,” Primack said. “Growers are sometimes having to bring in honeybees to pollinate the crops. ... Temperatures are getting warmer, which is not so suitable for the bees.”

 Storms also are a problem, other cranberry experts say. As sea levels rise, storms have the “potential to move fertilizers off the farm in runoff, which is bad for the environment,” said Carolyn DeMoranville, director of the UMass Cranberry Station.

From a project management perspective, the issue is timeframe.  Currently there is a glut of cranberries.  So for the short term, it looks like everything is (excuse the pun) peachy.  But in the long term – thinking in terms of decades – temperature increases and sea-level rise also must be considerations and indeed have triggered the projects we’ve mentioned above.

Again from the article:

In a recent talk at the Arnold Arboretum in Boston, Playfair acknowledged that the effects of climate change on cranberries were long-term, not sudden. “I think what’s a little deceptive here is that we’re talking about something that’s gradually happening,” she said.

So our message to you: think long-term.  It may help in your current project and may be important to you in planning new projects.  Have a cranberry on us...right now, there's a surplus.  But it may not always be so.

The Green Spectrum

In our last book, Rich and I talked about the spectrum of green projects, from green by definition, a wind farm project to green in general, like the compact disk from Big Kenney where the holder was made of compostable material and impregnated with wildflower seeds.  All projects have some aspect of sustainability.  Well, the same holds true for companies.  Companies that you would never expect to have a strong interest in sustainability do have that interest, serious interest!  It is not just interest in “greening up”, it is undertaking huge sustainability projects, and this company has the deep pockets to do it in a big way.

When one thinks of Lockheed Martin there is a tendency to think military applications only because they are the world’s largest defense contractor to a tune of $45+ billion in revenue.  According to a recent article in the Wall Street Journal, Lockheed Tests the Water, Doug Cameron, November 14, 2014, Lockheed is looking to expand into other markets, due to cutbacks in US military spending.  Lockheed Martin’s sustainability mission is documented on their website “Lockheed Martin has long been driven by the concept of sustainability, a paradigm of corporate social responsibility. Our high standards for ethics, corporate governance and performance excellence distinguish our contributions to global security when it matters most. We define sustainability as fostering innovation, integrity and security to protect the environment, strengthen communities and propel responsible growth.”  So Lockheed’s sustainability mission certainly encompasses 2 of the 3 P’s, people and planet.  There’s no question that they are actively pursuing sustainability within their company.

I am talking about something different; undertaking actual “green by definition” projects.  Lockheed has a project in the works using ultrathin membranes used for desalinating water.  These membranes are measured in nanometer thickness.  Not only can it be used for desalination, but also for water purification.  Both applications have enormous potential to make lives better by provided ample and pure water, as well as water recycling.  

Also from the WSJ article, Lockheed is also working with Kampachi Farms and the Illinois Soybean Association to develop open-ocean fish pens, “intended to enable fish farming without the environmental and other drawbacks of inland or coastal farms.”  Lockheed’s contribution was in developing communications and control systems that allow land based operators to feed the fish and clean the pens floating on ocean currents.” 

The energy sector is particularly interesting to Lockheed.  There is a deal between Lockheed and a Chinese company, Reignwood Group, to develop a 10 Megawatt power plant in the Pacific Ocean “to generate electricity from the temperature difference between deep and shallow water.”  They are alos investigating nuclear-fusion and tidal power plants.  Fascinating stuff!

To gain the advantage going forward, project managers should understand both the “green spectrum” of projects as well as the green spectrum of companies.  

As project managers, we are all about baselining.  That is – determining a reference point from which we make rational judgments.  We baseline scope.  We baseline schedule.  We baseline the budget.  We do this so that we can make informed decisions about the actuals – comparing actual to planned and looking for variance.  It's from this information that we make decisions - important project decisions.

In projects, this is done in the relatively short term.  Even though projects can be decades long, we must remember that in the scheme of things, a 50-year project is – geologically speaking – a flash in the pan, if that.  And that’s where the forams come in.

Forams?  That's not a typo - we didn't mean forum.  Although, there may be a forum for forams.

So - what’s a foram?  They are simple marsh-dwelling creatures – technically called foraminifera, which are choosy about how much time they spend underwater, and so they turn out to be surprisingly precise indicators of ancient sea levels.  Here's a picture of some...

In this article from today’s Boston Globe, you’d find the story of Professor Andrew Kemp of Tufts University, who is studying the ancient climate, “using lessons written in the sediment to discern historical patterns that could help refine models of climate change and sea levels. Generally, local sea level rise is calculated by taking the overall changes predicted by climate models and then factoring in the local conditions. But those are complex and aren’t all understood — a knowledge gap that research like Kemp’s could help fill.”

In other words, they are baselining.

The studies being conducted by Kemp have taken him from North Carolina to Long Island Sound, and now he would like to extend that work to Massachusetts, to build a fine-grained portrait of how sea levels have changed over the last several thousand years in order to make more informed predictions.

We found this story to be interesting in the dual connection to project management: first, the baseline element and second, the fact that it is indeed a project – one that our book Green Project Management would call a “Green By Definition” project.

And there was another, perhaps even stronger connection.

We’ve always treasured one particular aspect of project management – the fact that we are silo-busters.  Read this quote from the article:

‘The work shows the importance in science of borrowing tools and insights from other fields. While biologists might be interested in forams and the ecosystems in which they live for their own right, geologists can use the different species of forams they find and their distribution in the sediment to extrapolate the conditions of the ancient marsh.”

Even within the field of science – there are clearly silos.  And it’s this project team that is breaking down the walls between those silos to gain a positive outcome.  That’s what projects are all about.

And you can use that line… as a baseline.

I’ve talked about Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) projects before, but only in the context of what is going in the United States.  However, some developing nations are also undertaking LEED projects.  Specifically, India has 1675 registered and certified LEED projects according to a recent article on the United States Green Building Council (USBGC) website.  The Suzlon One Earth project is billed as “setting precedents in terms of energy efficiency, water recycling and harvesting, and waste management systems for developing countries.”

Suzlon Energy Limited pledged to create the greenest office in India. The building is three levels high and is sited on 10.5 acres. It achieved LEED for New Construction Platinum certification[1] from the India Green Building Council, as well as Five-Star GRIHA (Green Rating for Integrated Habitat Assessment) certification. 5% (154 kilowatts) of its annual energy is generated on-site through conventional and building-integrated photovoltaic panels (20%) and wind turbines (80%). All balanced energy required for the campus is generated through Suzlon’s off-site wind turbines, making One Earth technically a zero energy project.

This is a great example of the 3 Ps in practice.  For the people piece, the design provides 90% of the work stations with daylight and external views, allowing inhabitants to enjoy seasons and weather conditions, and to connect with the time of the day.  Aluminum louvers act as a protective skin, allowing daylight and cross-ventilation.  A central plaza is one of the design elements that encourages communication, informal interaction and team gathering amongst Suzlon’s more than 1,500 colleagues and provides a visual presentation for occupants and visitors. According to the website, “This corporate campus is a counterblast to prevailing glass-box architecture occurring across India and is a game changer in terms of how corporate campuses have been designed to-date in India.”  The building is also accessible to urban infrastructure and facilities as well as providing employees with public transportation options.

Combining the profit piece with the planet piece, energy is saved (thus bottom-line savings) by employing LED lighting systems and solar water heating. 100% of sewage grey water is recycled into flushing, landscaping and air cooling systems, while 100% of rainwater is harvested. Glass exhaust chimneys with tropical plants act as visual connectors between all floors and allow aeration of the basement parking area.

Suzlon is a great example of how the 3 Ps can interact to provide a balance project that not only meets the financial needs of an organization, but also provides environmental and social advantages as well.  Keeping aware of changes to sustainability technology by reviewing such projects as this, will help a project manager with an eye to the future.

A recent article from Doug Fraser, capecodonlinepoints out the environmental concerns that are affecting the cod fishing industry on Cape Cod.  As he puts it, can you imaging “Cape Cod without cod?” 

Here is a little history of the industry:  “Codfish once supported fleets of 400 schooners each in Gloucester and New Bedford, and as many as 100 schooners crowded into Provincetown Harbor in the 1800s, many headed to rich Canadian fishing grounds and Georges Bank. Cod are wrapped up in the history of the state and the growth of our nation, and symbolic cod hang in both the main courtroom of the Barnstable Superior Court and in the state House of Representatives.  But now, it's largely Iceland, Canada and the Pacific that put cod on restaurant menus and our tables at home. And many experts now worry that a fish, whose fortunes are so closely aligned with our own growth as a country, could now be going extinct. There's an emotional connection, and contemplating the last cod, is like letting the last bald eagle die.”

In spite the sentiments that reflect that we’ve already reached the tipping point of no return, there is a major project to rebuild the supplies of cod, and it looks like a long, hard road ahead.  That project includes a “de facto fishing moratorium.”  Even though there is a proposed catch limit between 214 and 500 metric tons of cod, in the past decade, the take has been in the neighborhood of 6000 metric tons, thus the de facto moratorium. 

So what, pray tell, do the “experts” think the issues are surrounding the dramatic decline in the availability of the species. According to Jake Kritzer, on the staff of the Environmental Defense Fund, an environmental policy group, "Too many dogfish, too many seals, the water is too warm. It's not a good world out there for cod."  The dog fish and the seals have a tendency to increase their population as the water warms.  The environmental factor of climate change (warming waters) has an interesting complexity.  While healthy populations may be able to sustain during adverse conditions, the Gulf of Maine Research Institute argue that the environmental effects are even greater on a smaller population than one that is robust and has enough spawners to overcome adverse conditions. Also, studies also project that a warming ocean might produce less plankton, the base of the food chain critical to both cod larvae and species like herring, which are the favored prey of adult cod.

Additional projects spawned (excuse the pun) by the decline of the cod include electronic monitoring, using video cameras to record the catch and discards, but has not been approved by NMFS for widespread use despite over a decade of testing.  [Editorial – getting the government to make a decision is like pulling teeth!] 

Some of these projects may take as long as 15 years to see results.  While the definition of a project says it is “temporary” the life cycle of these projects will certainly be prolonged.  These projects are also good examples of one of the tips we’ve learned over the years.  While there is a tendency to focus on the near term, try thinking of planning your projects with the end (or long term effects) in mind.