AGREE OR DISAGREE?

Manufacturers, supply chain partners and retail establishments must find better ways to manage their operations as climate change impacts their business models. Climate change effects may come in the form of severe weather, interuptions due to wind or flood damage, diversion of resources and limited supplies and materials for production. Improvements all along the supply chain can be acheived through managing efficiency and using lean principles to reduce overall waste. An even better opportunity to combat climate change is to innovate with new types of products created from recycled or repurposed materials.

I work as the buyer for The Pharmacy in Merritt Island and I constantly keep in mind the idea of sourcing products responsibly. As Dalen Smith pointed out in his discussion of climate change issues, adaption and mitigation are methods to acheive some success in conducting environmentally responsibly motivated business practices. In expanding our product lines, we consider customers wishes to live responsibly along the Indian River Lagoon. Not only is the Indian River Lagoon beautiful, but it is an economic driver in the local community for tourism, real estate, retail and food establishments. People choose successful products that take the Florida lifestyle and local focus into consideration and this in turn, improves their perceptions of our business commitments to responsibly serving the community.

Local consummers want to purchase goods with disposable income, but they "feel better" about doing so if the products mitigate environmental impact. One company that makes a recycled product is GUMBIES shoes, flip flops and slippers. Michael Maurer developed the idea for a 1,000 mile shoe - a long lasting shoe that was extremely durable, flexible, comfortable and produced from old, repurposed materials. The original experiments for this type of product included grinding tires for soles, but recycled softer rubber worked better. Flexibility is added to Gumbies with an embedded jute layer in the sole and recyled cotton canvas lining on the insole. This shoe is one that comes close to a literal zero carbon footprint! The Gumbies business model has been a great success both for Michael Maurer and for The Pharmacy.

10 Tampa Bay. (2022, April 21) "It's Not Just COVID, climate change is almost impacting the supply chain I Our Changing Climate [Video] YouTube. News 10 Tampa Bay. Retrieved from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CP7kpstG0Ag