Allison Jordan - Executive Director at California Sustainable Winegrowing Alliance, Vice President, Environmental Affairs at Wine Institute

Sustainable Nation

Allison Jordan joined Wine Institute and the California Sustainable Winegrowing Alliance (CSWA) in 2003, shortly after the publication of the California Code of Sustainable Winegrowing. Since 2007, she has served as the Executive Director of the Alliance and Vice President, Environmental Affairs for Wine Institute. Previously, she was a Senior Associate at SureHarvest and Vice President and Executive Director of Resource Renewal Institute. Jordan holds a master of Public Policy from the Goldman School at UC Berkeley and a Psychology bachelor's degree from Allegheny College, a Certificate in Wine Business Management from Sonoma State University and WSET Level 2 from the Wine & Spirit Education Trust.

Allison Joins Sustainable Nation to Discuss:

• Keys to successful adoption of California Sustainable Winegrowing Alliance’s certification program
• Interest from buyers in third party verification
• CSWA’s Green Medal Award program
• How wineries are engaging with suppliers to pursue certification
• Advice and recommendations for sustainability professionals

Allison's Final Five Questions Responses:

What is one piece of advice you would give other sustainability professionals that might help them in their career?

To take time to think creatively about partnerships. One of the ways that we've made big advances is by just getting really creative and reaching out to people that we know are working in the space, whether it's in winegrowing or something tangential that maybe could be really beneficial to our industry. We've been able to make incredible progress, get experts involved, get new resources that can really help match our industry support for our efforts. Really thinking about how we can support each other in this very complex, comprehensive area of sustainability.

What are you most excited about right now in the world of sustainability?

That there's so much awareness now about climate change, that it's bringing new energy, new ideas, technology. I don't think technology is the full solution, but there's certainly exciting things happening that will help us leapfrog and make progress. There's a lot of positive energy in finding solutions. Interestingly, my daughter is currently a junior in a program at our local high school called the Marin School of Environmental Leadership and their curriculum is all around climate and environmental solutions. Seeing her class and some of the products they had to come up with as juniors, sustainable products that they're currently marketing, it's just incredibly inspiring because you can see that it's just the way that the next generation thinks. I'm inspired by that.

What is one book you would recommend sustainability professionals read?

I'd have to recommend a book that I use. I'm teaching a sustainable enterprise course for the Sonoma State Executive Wine MBA program right now. I have them read Andrew Savits, the Triple Bottom Line. It’s just a really great basic understanding of what sustainability means for business and how it's evolved over time and the trajectory that we're on that basically shows that this is an imperative, not a nice to have. I just think it does a great job of introducing all of the key concepts for those who may be newer to the sustainability world. Even for those who've been in it for a long time, it's a good reminder of the basic framework and concepts that are really key.

What are some of your favorite resources or tools that really help you in your work?

The first thing that pops into my mind is people. I go to so many experts, Josh, you're one of them, on issues that I know they have more expertise than I have. The other resource that I turn to time and time again, which is kind of funny because I've been involved in helping to develop a lot of the resources in it, but it's still a really great repository of information. That's our resources library on sustainablewinegrowing.org. I can always stand to be refreshed on certain topics and it's a great way to point people to resources that they might need as well.

Where can our listeners go to learn more about you and the work being done at the California Sustainable Winegrowing Alliance?

The website that is the most core to what we do as an organization is sustainablewinegrowing.org. That's where you'll find the resources library about the organization, ways to get involved, etc.