I Love Lemon

Today we ordered a bunch of teas because everyone in my house is getting sick.  I guess that is what happens when you live in New York in the winter.  All you hear in my house is coughing and sneezing and see tissues all over the place.  It is not a pretty sight.  Since tea is good for your throat, we decided to order almost every flavor.  We weren’t sure which ones would taste better so we decided to give ourselves some options.  When we were looking online at the different brands, we couldn’t decide.  There were so many.  I know that sounds silly.  Why not just pick any brand?  It’s just tea.  Does it really matter?  But the answer to that is Yes.  Yes, it really does matter.  I try very hard to purchase only from those brands that are dedicated to protecting our environment.  If there is more than one brand to choose from, then why not order from the one that will help ours and future generations?  Plus, if you are concerned about the cost, there was not a significant difference in the prices.  Not for tea anyway. 

 So, we went with a brand called Bigelow since they seemed the most environmentally conscience or at least their packaging from what we could see did.  Lucky for us the delivery time was fast.  I am not sure that our sore throats could have lasted much longer.  When they arrived, the first one I decided to open was the I love lemon tea, which includes Vitamin C.  I thought my body could use a burst of Vitamin C and I do really like lemons so I thought I would give this one a shot.  

When I looked at the box, the first thing that I noticed was a big B with a circle around it. Since my last name starts with a B, it caught my eye.  It said that it is a certified B corporation and then said, “the certification recognizes our commitment to the highest standards of social and environmental impact”.  Hmmmm I wondered.  What exactly does this mean?  I had never heard of such a thing.  I decided to look into this.  What exactly is a B corporation?   So of course, I went where I normally go when I have a question – google. Yes, Google has become my best friend through the years.  Upon a search of Google, I found that a Certified B corporation is a for-profit corporation that has been certified by B Lab, which is a non-profit company that measures a company’s social and environmental performance against a certain B Lab Impact Assessment.  Okay, so my next question was, what exactly does this mean?  I know that you were thinking the exact same thing.  I located the B Lab website and started to read.  

There was so much information to digest, so I started with the basics.  Who is B Lab?  B Lab is a non-profit organization that began in 2006 with the goal of transforming the global economy to benefit all people, communities, and the planet.  B Lab’s goal is to get all companies to shift to stakeholder governance.  So once again you must be asking yourself – what exactly does that mean?  What is stakeholder governance?  Stakeholder governance is a type of corporate governance that prioritizes all stakeholders – customers, workers, suppliers, communities, investors, and the environment – in their decision making.  Unlike shareholder governance which prioritizes profits even if those profits come from actions that create inequality and environmental damage.  

My next thought was that this sounds great, but how exactly does B Lab accomplish this?  Upon reading further, I found out that in order to become B certified, a company must go through a rigorous evaluation process that evaluates a company’s performance, accountability and transparency through a review of a variety of factors including a company’s size, business model, operations, structure, work processes, supply chain practices, materials, employee benefits, public complaints and possibly even site visits.  In order to get certified a company must:  

• Demonstrate high social and environmental performance and pass a risk review.  
• Make a legal commitment by changing their corporate governance structure to be accountable to all stakeholders not just shareholders and achieve benefit corporation status if available in their jurisdiction.
• Exhibit transparency by allowing information about their performance measured against B Lab’s standards to be publicly available on their B Corp profile on B Lab’s website.  

B Lab is also committed to justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion which are also included in their review of a company.  B Lab is continually assessing and amending their tools to evaluate companies and companies are required to recertify every 3 years.  This ensures that the companies continue these practices.  

B Corps also have a Declaration of Independence, which states the following: “As B Corporations and leaders, we believe:

• That we must be the change we seek in the world.
• That all business ought to be conducted as if people and place mattered.
• That, through their products, practices and profits, businesses should aspire to do no harm and benefit all.
• To do so requires that we act with the understanding that we are each dependent upon another and thus responsible for each other and future generations.  

 And just in case you were interested, our tea company Bigelow is not only B certified, but it is also a zero landfill company, Green-e(made with 100% certified renewable energy), blended and packaged in the USA, its cartons are recyclable and all tea bags are compostable.  So, if being B certified wasn’t impressive enough…..  By the time I was done reading, I was certainly glad that I bought my Bigelow tea.  

So, what’s the benefit of getting B certified?  Other than of course the fact that it is the right thing to do to help our society and environment.  Well, the benefit for companies is that it builds trust with consumers, communities and suppliers and attracts and retains employees and like-minded investors.  So, companies cannot only help the world but an also help themselves.  

What I looked the most – was the following “We won’t stop until all business is a force for good”. It sounded like something a superhero would say and who doesn’t want to be a superhero???