Being 1% Better: Synergies from Global Summit
Photo: Author
More than a month removed from 1% for the Planet’s Global Summit 2024: San Diego, the resonance of its inspirational overtones remains as undeniable as the sight of Balboa Park’s California Dome. As an attendee of Global Summit for two consecutive years, what’s certain is that the atmosphere of this gathering is like few others I’ve seen.
What made me so excited to attend Global Summit again this year was the overwhelmingly positive experience I had at Global Summit 2023: NYC alongside others in the 1% for the Planet network. From each and every keynote, breakout session, and networking connection, I was deeply moved by the insight and stories shared throughout the event’s duration. Among the breakout sessions I attended last year was “Innovating Business Through Ownership,” where the speakers, Gregory Curtis and Natalie Reitman-White, broke down the concept of a Perpetual Purpose Trust and detailed the process of Patagonia’s trailblazing ownership transformation to tap Earth as the company’s new and only shareholder. It was simply sensational, and to this very day I still sing its praises.
Finding My Way to 1%
While I was uncertain of what to expect at Global Summit 2023: NYC, my resolve in aligning with 1% for the Planet was solidified before I became a business owner. When I was a Business Sustainability Analyst at B Lab Global, I often reviewed companies that highlighted their financial giving commitment as 1% for the Planet Business Members in measuring their positive social and environmental impact to become Certified B Corporations. The motivation behind this commitment—to ensure that our planet and future generations thrive—really stuck with me, so it was natural for Enharmonic Encounters to become a 1% for the Planet Business Member from the very moment it became fully operational in February 2022.
Today, as the proud founder and executive director of a B1 (both a Certified B Corporation and a 1% for the Planet Business Member), being deeply intertwined in this greater network has meant everything to me. All of these thoughts were at the front of my mind when I confirmed my registration for Global Summit 2024: San Diego.
The Power of Community and Alignment
A salient motif among Certified B Corporations is the robust sense of community among professionals who are unified toward the cause of putting people and planet on an equal playing field with profit. It’s not happenstance, then, that this same sense surged through Global Summit. In fact, this very feeling was actively expressed in many interactions I had, both at the event itself and in interactions online since then. This network is our home.
When I arrived at Global Summit this year, to my pleasant surprise I was greeted by attendees who remembered me from last year. Beyond simply putting faces to the names we see on Slack or Zoom calls, the continuity of being remembered is one of the elements that contributes to my sense of home in the 1% network.
What contributes most to my sense of home, however, is the multitude of chords struck within me from seeing tangible impact from the work we’re supporting, which is front and center at Global Summit:
• I felt a renewed zeal toward the significance of my presence in this network as a Black man and business owner when Ron Finley rose his hand in the middle of his keynote to shout out the four (or so) Black people in the audience, which I spontaneously acknowledged by raising my hand in a fist.
• I was overwhelmed by a wave of pride when I heard Imani Black, a Black woman, lead part of a breakout session as the founder of the world’s only minority workforce development organization in the aquaculture industry.
• I shed a few tears when the Thin Green Line Foundation led us to stand in a moment of silence for the 150 park rangers killed each year protecting nature and wildlife all over the world.
• I was injected with an extra 1% pep in my step when Constance Mwandaa shared her story as one of a few women park rangers in her home country of Kenya.
The sustained resonance I felt from these moments affirms that I’m in the right place, that I’ve successfully identified where Enharmonic Encounters can make a positive impact as a force for good.
Faith Without Works
Now fired up and ready to go, I know there’s more work to be done. As was mentioned throughout Global Summit 2024, hope in isolation is dead. It’s about what we do once we leave the 1% bubble that counts.
Kate Williams, CEO of 1% for the Planet, echoed these words well in her closing remarks. "Coming together in a community of shared values and commitment is beyond powerful. In fact, it may be one of the greatest sources of power we have vis-à-vis the complex challenges we face around the globe,” she notes. “At 1% for the Planet, we seek to be intentional about how we engage and grow our global community of businesses and partners, and our Global Summit always reinforces the multiplier effect of collective action. We gain strength and energy with each other that we can carry out beyond our time together."
Enharmonic Encounters hears these words loud and clear, and we’re not sitting idly on the sidelines. It is with immense joy that I announce a new partnership Enharmonic Encounters is forming with Minorities in Aquaculture (MIA). Founded by Imani Black in 2020 with the mission of instilling greater diversity and inclusion across all aquaculture sectors, MIA provides vocational training for the next generation of leaders in the industry. The aquaculture industry will play a vital role in the fight for the future of our planet, yet it’s not a space where we see a lot of Black and Brown faces. Enharmonic Encounters is proud to support MIA’s work as the only minority workforce development organization in the aquaculture industry as of this writing.
In addition to continuing our support of Black Outside, earlier this year we partnered with Joppy Momma’s Farm to welcome them into the fold as a new Environmental Partner. We are proud to have been the point of referral and we will continue to support the farm into the future.
Do you know of a for-profit business that aligns with 1% for the Planet’s mission? At present, 68% of new Business Members come by way of referral, which is why 1% for the Planet has launched its new Business Member Referral Program. Make that connection you’ve been considering, and together let’s continue to increase the impact of the network for a better world and future for the coming generations.
