What a copper mine is doing for water reclamation in the desert from ParkHowell.com on Vimeo.

While the report is loaded with pertinent information, its organization and presentation can be challenging to read, navigate and appreciate. So this year, we made this compulsory publication a celebration of RCM’s sustainability practices.

Here’s how our web designer, Joe di Stefano, described the creative approach:

“Environmental sustainability is just one facet of Resolution Copper’s sustainable approach. They focus on five main aspects of sustainability: environment, community, safety, workforce, and socio-economic. The look and feel of the entire site all grew out of the design of the “sustainability wheel,” a visual device we used on the homepage to illustrate RCM’s holistic approach to sustainability.

To enhance the report and create a more engaging experience, we incorporated a wide variety of media. Throughout the site, you’ll find photos, maps, animated graphics, slideshows and video. The videos in particular show how sustainability at RCM is about more than adhering to standards or the ever-changing rubric of ‘being green,’ it’s about bettering people’s lives and contributing to the community you belong to.”

Tactically, RCM was looking to:

1. Enhance the overall look of the report online. Within the resolutioncopper.com website, the real estate available for a unique page design, content and graphics was very restrictive. We lobbied to have the entire 2010 Sustainable Development (SD) Report reside on a separate site, allowing for a wider range of color and content options.
2. Tell their sustainable stories in a more engaging way. Many of RCM’s accomplishments over the year directly impacted the environment and area residents. Words on a webpage didn’t do these stories justice, so we crafted videos, slide shows and animated charts to bring them to life.
3. Make it easy for viewers to find information. Previous SD Reports on resolutioncopper.com had countless layers with multiple portals to access similar information. Navigating the site or simply locating a specific topic of interest was challenging. By utilizing a separate site for the 2010 SD Report, we were able to build a design that provided easier navigation, faster information gathering and on-page prompts for activating videos and slideshows.

Explore RCM’s 2010 Sustainable Development Report, and see if it doesn’t do as much for your interest level as it does for the community, the economy and the environment.

This article was featured in our recent Flashpoint agency newsletter. Read more about our recent work, including the launch of Ecodriving Solutions, as well as the homework assignment we took on for Social Venture Partners Arizona’s annual report, click here.

I started skiing when I was five at a little area called  Stevens Pass, 90 minutes east of Seattle in the Cascades.  Now, living in Phoenix, my home slope is eight hours away in Telluride. I was curious what ski resorts are doing about global warming.

The Aspen Skiing Company appears to have the most aggressive sustainability initiative in the industry, which they began in 1999.

You got to appreciate the honesty in their report. Although ASC has a worldwide reputation for being “green,” its president and CEO, Mike Kaplan, freely shares the skico’s disappointment with their progress.

“…if you look at the only metric that matters – our carbon footprint – we’re not moving as fast as we’d like, or as the planet needs us to.  In our case, our carbon footprint is only creeping downward.”

ASC reports that it produced 28,321 tons of carbon emissions in 2006 and 27,847 tons the following year for a tiny reduction of 1.6 percent. I still wish these sustainability reports would do a better job of quantifying what 28,321 tons of carbon emissions really means in the grand scope of things. Yet, I love their tenacity.

“You might think this information is discouraging to us, but you would be wrong. We are fundamentally skiers, and the greater the challenge, the more likely we are to go for it.”

One of the charming elements in their sustainability report are the snafu sections, where they demonstrate in a very human way that the company isn’t perfect, but at least they’re trying.

Overall, a well produced report that reflects the company’s commitment to reducing their impact.  Check out the Aspen Skiing Company’s sustainable report.