SUCCESS Magazine: Preservation and Profit: 4 Companies That Use Sustainable Business Practices to Help Protect the Earth

Excerpt - Full Article

BY Ashley M. Biggers, Kristen Tribe, Em Cassel and Tess Lopez

Just last fall, I’d packed a small pink duffel bag with enough clothes to sneak away for a couple of days to a place that had long been teetering near the top of my bucket list: New River Gorge National Park in West Virginia. Something about the way the park’s iconic bridge stretched across such a cavernous drop in the landscape—a feat accomplished by humans, no less—made me ache to see it in person.

Standing near the bridge was every bit as wonderful as I had hoped for—better, even. But what I didn’t expect to steal my breath away was the view from the rear of the Canyon Rim Visitor Center: an unimpeded panorama of the park’s namesake whitewater river powerfully cutting through the canyon. It was a gray, cloudy day that cast the river in a minty-blue hue and lent a vibrancy to the orange and yellow trees surrounding it. 

Tears welled up in my eyes. I was in awe. That such surreal beauty could be so easily accessible felt like a privilege nearly too heavy to bear. And yet it is accessible to us, along with dozens of other national and state parks that are safeguarded for the sole purpose of preserving the land so generation after generation can experience wonder and appreciation for the world we live in. 

And thank goodness for that, because our continually developing world comes at a price. Our conveniences are exchanged for air pollution; our aesthetic for deforestation. Wildlife are losing their homes to make way for subdivisions, and the power that makes all of this happen has recently driven the effects of climate change to worrying new heights.

We can’t stop progress, but individuals and corporations alike can mitigate its downfalls through sustainability. Small changes to our habits—conserving water and energy, recycling, reducing food waste—can minimize the impact on our natural world. 

Several companies have taken up the mantle in this regard, implementing sustainable practices in their business models or producing Earth-friendly products. Here are four that are showcasing what it means to value preservation alongside profit.

—Tess Lopez

B.PUBLIC Prefab

The building blocks to found panelized building system company B.PUBLIC Prefab fell into place during a conversation cofounders Jonah Stanford and Edie Dillman had with their eldest daughter. She wanted to know what their generation was doing to fight climate change. The question resonated.  

Stanford, AIA and now B.PUBLIC Prefab’s chief technical officer, had been working in sustainable building and felt he was pressing the boundaries of the eco-friendly measures he could accomplish with traditional building. Dillman, now CEO, was working to fill education and skills gaps and was confronting labor shortages in, among others, the building industry. Founded as a public benefit corporation in 2019, B.PUBLIC Prefab seemed a natural evolution. Along with cofounder Charlotte Lagarde, the company has taken a radical approach to construction and has affected the sustainability, affordability and accessibility of homes.

Reflecting on her conversation with her teenagers, Dillman says, “Our kids [are] pushing us toward this stuff…. That hesitation that we’ve developed experience of—Well, it’s not how it’s been done, or is it really worth it?—their generation is already there…. If there’s a better way… of course you do that. They’re just already so far advanced in their thinking and sustainability that they do have reason to be frustrated with our generation.” 

Based in northern New Mexico, the company manufactures prefabricated pieces that can be quickly assembled like Lego blocks to form the shell of a house. Building the panels in climate-controlled factories achieves 95% less waste; gone are the dumpsters full of construction waste. The airtight finished product is also incredibly energy efficient; they take 80% less energy to heat than homes built to standard requirements. Dillman compares B.PUBLIC Prefab homes to insulated thermoses: whatever goes in stays hot or cold, without additional effort to keep it that way. “If we build houses that way, they’re nearly net zero before we’ve even begun,” she says. 

Educating builders and homeowners has been a hurdle—though both groups of stakeholders have adopted the product in New Mexico, Colorado, California and other locations. “I don’t think [people] are empowered to understand how much they can affect the long-term health [of a building]. There’s a lot of building to science to relay, and it takes time,” Dillman says.

Amid housing shortages and sky-high home prices, B.PUBLIC Prefab is also helping build faster and more affordably. Builders can frame, insulate and seal a house in a matter of days, rather than weeks or months. Faster building times also mean lower costs because builders can reduce the carrying costs they have to manage and which they pass on to consumers via home prices.

Following the lead her children’s generation is setting, Dillman believes sustainability should be integrated into every company—and not as an afterthought. “I don’t think we can be in business and not be working on climate and climate change. Everyone is affected by it,” she says. “And really, if we’re not doing something good, [you have to figure out how to] change your practices or assess, really, is that business necessary at this moment?”

—Ashley M. Biggers