Ochre is a small consultancy focused on big ideas that cultivate community and revitalize the planet
Our Approach
We need a growing group of sustainability changemakers to address our big sustainability challenges. Ochre approaches every partnership as an opportunity to inspire action and progress.
Big Ambition
We cultivate spaces where partners can imagine bold possibilities, explore new ideas, and vision a positive future
Intersectional Solutions
We are committed to creating holistic strategies that realize the connection between environmental health and human well-being, equity, resilience, and social justice
Practical Outcomes
We are expert at operationalizing sustainability, and create practical tools and management systems to increase your impact
Sustainability
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Regeneration
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Equity
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Resilience
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Sustainability ☼ Regeneration ☼ Equity ☼ Resilience ☼
Our Work
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We help organizations develop their own sustainability perspective and deepen their CSR and ESG efforts through strategic partnerships and internal capacity building. Our work has addressed a range of sustainability issues for large corporations and small businesses alike—climate action, circular economy, supply chain assessment, sustainable food and regenerative agriculture, micro-enterprise development, animal welfare, conservation, and brand risk assessment. We have experience helping businesses with B Corp certification, GRI, Integrated Reporting, and navigating the complexity of certification in the travel and tourism space.
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We know that people across organizations and industries need to build their sustainability know-how. We’ve developed in-person and online engagements that foster deep learning and exchange on a range of sustainability issues.
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We help organizations surface key insights that showcase their sustainability leadership. We use tested sustainability frameworks to analyze social and environmental impact, and then create engaging content pieces customized to your audience. We are saturated in the sustainability topics that matter to consumers and our planet, and help organizations communicate their impact without greenwashing.
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Our experience in the travel industry informs our programming approach—we develop fun, interactive, thoughtful, educational experiences that engage staff, professional networks, the public, donors, and travelers in conservation and environmental science. We understand how to inspire, promote exchange, and motivate action. And our global partners can help bring your vision to life.
Recent Articles
& Publications
O’Shannon Burns,
Founder
O’Shannon is a researcher and sustainability consultant with 15 years’ experience shaping mission-driven businesses and embedding regenerative principles into operations with a focus on climate action, conservation, environmental justice and sustainable travel and tourism.
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Through Ochre, she collaborates with organizations to create custom sustainability strategies and build the systems and programs needed to operationalize sustainability into their work. Ochre has collaborated with The World Bank, Disney, TED, the National Geographic Society, Regenerative Travel, and dozens of small businesses on sustainability strategy and management.
O’Shannon is part of Cornell University’s Sustainable Tourism Asset Management Program at the SC Johnson College of Business. O’Shannon co-developed a framework for sustainable tourism destination management that now underpins the online, self-paced eCornell course on Sustainable Tourism Destination Management. She holds a Master’s in Sustainability from Harvard University, a BS in Physical Geography with a focus on Climate Science from Penn State, and an executive certificate in Training and Facilitation from Georgetown University.
Previously, she spent a decade as staff at National Geographic collaborating with explorers as they conducted field work, spearheading sustainability initiatives, and operating exploratory educational travel experiences on all seven continents. While there, she created and was then appointed to National Geographic Partners’ first full-time sustainability position, overseeing sustainability for the company’s travel business, and serving as an internal sustainability leader and expert.
O’Shannon has a deep network in both sustainability and the travel industry, which she often taps into for her work. This allows our small consulting firm to fully investigate complex sustainability issues and build effective solutions.
Mentoring
True sustainability will require a generational change in thinking, and a shift toward more regenerative systems. We are committed to supporting sustainability leadership at all levels, and are inspired by the diversity of places and perspectives from which leaders come.
We support sustainability changemakers as they find their path. Individuals can reach out with inquiries, and we also make time to engage students inside and outside the classroom.
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Work with us
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⚞ Work with us ⚟