This is how we work with clients to achieve their objectives.
The St. Croix River Bridge we see from our Stillwater, MN office.
The St. Croix River Bridge we see from our Stillwater, MN office.
Who We Are
SCI is an independent contractor who uses our experience, expertise, network, and best available science to frame a ‘Carbon Negative, Quadruple-Bottom-Line’ (4xbl℠) approach to all we do with, and for our clients. We foster environmentally, socially responsible citizenship and economic success – corporate, NGO, agency, institutional, and community – based on enduring American values; in essence, ‘capitalism with a conscience.’
SCI's 'bleeding edge' outcomes are accomplished through the leadership and collaborative direction of Kelly D. Cain, PhD, Founder / Principal of St. Croix Institute, in concert with the deep commitment of select / strategic partners. SCI partners represent the front-edge of knowledge, skills, expertise, integrity, and passion that bring the 'right fit' to the customized needs of every client, and are selected as necessary, for that purpose. Kelly and SCI affiliates, stand ready to provide services to clients who wish to purposefully embrace and apply a 'climate positive', quadruple-bottom-line – 4XBL℠ – approach to their objectives.
4XBL℠ is SCI’s diversified set of performance metrics (typically referenced as the triple-bottom-line … environmental, social and economic), except that we intentionally call out ‘Community Impact’ metrics as its own category. We do this for a number of reasons, but especially because, at the end of the day, that is where the rubber meets the road for transparency of integrity and impact of any business, NGO, institution, or agency on the community(ies) it embraces, whether that be one community or many.
And at the end of the day, that is where sustainability is either relevant, or it is not, to the average citizen; their struggles with the present and their aspirations for the future.
We also do this because while ‘community impact’ gets a lot of play in organizational reporting (e.g. Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), Global Reporting Initiative – GRI, etc), the performance metrics are often hidden, or at best implied in the other categories.
While SCI’s organizational ‘sense of place’ is our life in community of the lower St. Croix Valley of Wisconsin and Minnesota, we subscribe to the “think globally act locally” permaculture mantra - "planning, design, and implementation as if we as a species intend to be the solution rather than the problem". Never has this mantra been more relevant than it is today as we all imagine and re-imagine the planet as a resilient home for this and all generations to follow in light of the wants, needs, challenges, and opportunities ahead for every community ... both tribal and non-tribal.
We are committed to Core American Values of Life, Liberty & the Pursuit of Happiness:
• Self-Sufficiency / Self-Reliance
• Self-Determination / Sovereignty
• Creativity & Ingenuity
• Best Available Science
• Disruptive Innovation
• Entrepreneurship
• Market-based Solutions
• Responsibility for Self, Family, & Community
• Business Purpose with Spiritual Integrity
SCI's 'bleeding edge' outcomes are accomplished through the leadership and collaborative direction of Kelly D. Cain, PhD, Founder / Principal of St. Croix Institute, in concert with the deep commitment of select / strategic partners. SCI partners represent the front-edge of knowledge, skills, expertise, integrity, and passion that bring the 'right fit' to the customized needs of every client, and are selected as necessary, for that purpose. Kelly and SCI affiliates, stand ready to provide services to clients who wish to purposefully embrace and apply a 'climate positive', quadruple-bottom-line – 4XBL℠ – approach to their objectives.
4XBL℠ is SCI’s diversified set of performance metrics (typically referenced as the triple-bottom-line … environmental, social and economic), except that we intentionally call out ‘Community Impact’ metrics as its own category. We do this for a number of reasons, but especially because, at the end of the day, that is where the rubber meets the road for transparency of integrity and impact of any business, NGO, institution, or agency on the community(ies) it embraces, whether that be one community or many.
And at the end of the day, that is where sustainability is either relevant, or it is not, to the average citizen; their struggles with the present and their aspirations for the future.
We also do this because while ‘community impact’ gets a lot of play in organizational reporting (e.g. Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), Global Reporting Initiative – GRI, etc), the performance metrics are often hidden, or at best implied in the other categories.
While SCI’s organizational ‘sense of place’ is our life in community of the lower St. Croix Valley of Wisconsin and Minnesota, we subscribe to the “think globally act locally” permaculture mantra - "planning, design, and implementation as if we as a species intend to be the solution rather than the problem". Never has this mantra been more relevant than it is today as we all imagine and re-imagine the planet as a resilient home for this and all generations to follow in light of the wants, needs, challenges, and opportunities ahead for every community ... both tribal and non-tribal.
We are committed to Core American Values of Life, Liberty & the Pursuit of Happiness:
• Self-Sufficiency / Self-Reliance
• Self-Determination / Sovereignty
• Creativity & Ingenuity
• Best Available Science
• Disruptive Innovation
• Entrepreneurship
• Market-based Solutions
• Responsibility for Self, Family, & Community
• Business Purpose with Spiritual Integrity
"Our team and our clients value the intersections of science, nature, culture, economy, creativity, and ‘community’ in framing conversations about living in a resilient, sustainable world. We foster citizenship and economic success – corporate, NGO, agency, institutional, and community – based on enduring American values; in essence, ‘capitalism with a conscience.’"
~ Kelly Cain / St. Croix Institute
~ Kelly Cain / St. Croix Institute
