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Around the world, earth has traditionally been used as a durable, readily available, and low-carbon building material. Check out this interesting documentary on the subject which explores earth building in the larger context of man-made environments worldwide. First Earth Documentary Home Page Energy involves many complex issues, from how it is sourced to where it is used. Crafting intelligent energy policy also means understanding how cultural, social, and political issues come into play. Dr. Michael Quah is one of the well versed experts in this area. With qualifications from Harvard and Yale, a 20+ year career in as an engineer and consultant, his latest work is with Energy Studies Institute and Institute of Southeast Asian Studies. He also does research and development for the U.S. Army around energy technologies. According to Dr. Quah, taking a systems-of-systems approach is advantageous. The bigger picture view, taking into account even some of the smallest details, is useful to understanding complex interrelationships. With energy, nothing can be oversimplified. Beyond that, energy projects-- whether from renewable or traditional energy sources-- need to be carefully analyzed for lifecycle costs and long term impacts. “Anyone who champions one source of energy doesn’t get it,” Quah says. “We need everything.” It is this diversity in supply and generation that will yield ultimate energy security and independence. (continues)  Like many countries, Thailand has an issue with waste. From buildings, to manufacturing and agriculture, to consumer goods and tourism leftovers, mountains of garbage go to landfill each year. Agriculture alone in Thailand churns out 58,190,000 tons of refuse annually (Land Development Department, Government of Thailand). Think about that the next time you frolic on a Thai beach. Throughput of industrial system today, from source to end consumer ends up in landfills or incinerator. For every truckload of product with lasting value, 32 truckloads of waste are produced. On a finite planet, it doesn’t take a genius to realize this sort of system is totally unsustainable. Singh Intrachooto is an unlikely hero in this pile of waste. Closing the loop on society’s byproducts has become Singh’s claim to fame. On one sunny afternoon just outside Bangkok, on the campus of Kasetsart University, we caught up with Singh for an intimate look at his work. (article continues)
In many developing countries, eco-tourism projects are heralded as one way to bring money into communities and create economic benefits for local people. The premise is simple: showcase the local culture and natural heritage and gain the tourist dollar. Unfortunately, this seemingly simple business idea gets messy when implemented.
Small communities are often overrun with waste from materials brought in for or by tourists. Mountains of plastic water bottles and other refuse are the usual suspects. Too, communities often lack sufficient water and sanitation infrastructure, which leads to sewerage issues. Local natural attractions can be overrun and degraded by unscrupulous tour guides and their groups. Culturally too, it is far too easy for communities to be culturally overrun by outsiders and lose the very elements that make them unique to begin with. Thankfully, in the Spiti Valley of northern India, one social enterprise is taking these concerns into consideration. Ecosphere got started in 2002 with the premise to take a holistic view on ecotourism and what it could provide the local community. The crux of the organization’s work is to couple economic empowerment, development, and conservation efforts so that no area goes lacking. (continues) 
Slammed by the economic crisis? Been laid off? Hating your job and wishing you were? Yearning for something more meaningful? Congratulations, you’re not alone. If you’ve been pounding your brain and the pavement in search of alternatives, look no further as there is something perfect for you. Called “ Half Farmer/Half X”, it’s a concept created by a rather astute Japanese man named Naoki Shiomi. The idea is simple: roughly half your time you devote to raising food and connecting with nature-- be it in a backyard garden, veggie patch, window box, or on a farm. The other half of the time, you spend developing your “X”— that is, your bigger purpose in life. Shiomi got the idea after being a “salaryman” (Japanese corporate hack) for nearly a decade in Japan. Back in 1995, he got tired of his day job and found himself wondering how else he might spend his time. Around that same time, he also became conscious of a number of environmental issues, as well as thousands of hectares of abandon rural land in the Japanese countryside. In exploring the issues and his own desire for change, he realized that most environmental problems are connected with people’s often misguided attempts at finding their identity. They consume to satisfy deeper emotional needs to the point it becomes addictive, an unquestioned pattern of behavior. (article continues) Economy and jobs seem to be on people's mind a lot lately. Here are some really great articles to help reframe your reality: - First, to set the stage, our colleague John Thackara has some useful thoughts on the way the world is going, emerging trends, and some promising news-- we are in fact on the cusp of a major shift in business as usual. He's quite a worldly man, and we tend to trust his instincts and observations. Check out his keynote speech from a recent event in Japan for some inspiration and a glimpse into our future, starting now.
- Secondly, there's been a lot of swirling discussion about "green jobs" and "green shoots" in the "new" economy (that's a lot of air quotes for one sentence!). GoodWork Canada has some interesting food for thought on actually creating green jobs/opportunities for yourself, rather than just milling about waiting for something to come your way ... or not.
- And if you're thinking one step wider about lifestyle issues as well as career, well then Half Farmer/Half X might just be for you. Created by a Japanese man interested in rebalancing his life and cutting out the fast paced, consumption-focused norm, he engineered his own lifestyle and then made it a mandate to help others do likewise.
Yup, it can be done. Living without money for a year was an ambition of Mark Boyle, and he succeeded. Check out this fantastic article on one person's journey.  Jack Sim’s mind is in the toilet. Or rather on the toilet. In face, he thinks that toilets are not only one of the keys to a global economic recovery, but also to empowering the developing world. Perhaps he’s spent too long on the “seat of wisdom”, or maybe he’s got a damn good idea. Consider this: worldwide there are 2.5 billion people without access to proper sanitation. This is really bad news as it means that many are left to do “business” in rather uncomfortable and unsanitary conditions. It also means that effluent is not properly treated in many countries, and often winds up contaminating the ecosystems of rivers, lakes, and streams. This of course has knock on effects with drinking water, and that can spell some nasty diseases from contamination. Now move from this scene to one of a corporate board room on the other side of the planet: business people are trying to find new markets and new products to make money. The recession has meant belt tightening, and not only that, how many flat screen televisions does the average household really need? Well if a 2.5 billion person market doesn’t attract attention, what would? Problem is, conventional business strategy sees these underprivileged “bottom of the pyramid” people as poor, and therefore, not worthy of much business attention. As with the conventional logic that spurned our recent economic crisis, this notion is worth flushing. While the poor might not have heaps of wealth, they are still are promising market for businesses as they represent a volume opportunity. Why not try selling a million useful things to people at a reasonable cost, than a few expensive big ticket items to the really rich? Telecoms have recognized this opportunity for millions of new customers. Nokia is one such example. Its introduction of Nokia money (a credit that is swappable between mobile phones) in developing nations has not only meant success for the company, but has also served as a de facto second currency in several African nations. African warlord got you down? National currency a bit deflated? Use your Nokia money to pay for groceries instead this week. Not a bad idea. So back to the toilet. How to connect the bottom of the pyramid with the businesses in a position to help? Jack Sim started the World Toilet Organisation (or WTO) to connect these two seemingly disparate parties in the name of mutual progress. The UN estimates that $1 spent on sanitation yields $9 in economic benefit (think lower disease rates, less trips to the doctor, better environmental quality, better health, which then means higher productivity, and consistent wages). Good sanitation is therefore one cornerstone of alleviating poverty. Breaking down silos, the WTO works to bring governments, aid agencies, community groups, and businesses together to help solve sanitation challenges worldwide. According to Mr. Sim, just throwing money at the problem is not going go solve anything. “Merely throwing aid dollars around only creates a dependency mentality, and incentivizes people not to help themselves,” he says.  The answer lies in treating this new market just as you would with any market. That means involving the customers, respecting them as real people with very real needs, subsidizing the market development instead of hardware costs, developing rural markets for sanitation services, empowering local entrepreneurs, and facilitating links between demand and supply. “Poor people are intelligent, discerning, brand conscious, and prudent with their money. Quite literally, they cannot afford to make a purchasing mistake,” says Mr. Sim. “Not only that, poor people are highly entrepreneurial out of necessity. They do not want to look poor and have a great amount of pride. Part of the solution is to make toilets a status symbol to help spur demand. A vision needs to be created in the community that everyone aspires to better health and sanitation.” The good news is, even in developing nations, there are many low cost fixtures on the market already, some as cheap as US$250-400. There are also many ways to keep the whole process affordable. A village might come together to build a shared toilet block and biogas digester unit, or individuals might get a microfinance loan to have facilities installed in their home. In many countries, distribution networks are largely already in place, with over 4000+ low cost distributors in Bangladesh alone.  As sanitation becomes community and national priority, it opens up opportunity for new jobs and micro enterprises. Sure there are some gaps to fill along the way, but with some careful planning, coordination, and facilitation of low-cost financing, they’re not impossible to overcome, and certainly worth the results. Healthier people, better environment and water quality, increased economic opportunity, and new business possibilities—it’s a hard bottom line to argue with. And that’s where the WTO comes in to catalyze the process. From a business point of view, Mr. Sim sees it like this: sanitation and hygiene yield health and optimism. Optimistic healthy people are then better positioned to work and be entrepreneurial, thereby getting a better income and slowly raising themselves out of poverty. As they climb up the ladder, they enjoy better well-being and have more opportunity for the future. “Sooner or later, if you persist, it will have to happen. By helping the world’s poor, we are really helping ourselves at the same time. It’s a win-win situation,” says Mr. Sim. Mr. Sim started the WTO in 2001 and has seen progressive involvement since, with everyone from the UN to the Clinton Global Initiative getting involved. It now has 215 member organizations in 57 countries. Annual conferences have raised attention to sanitation issues on the global stage. While the WTO might seem to have achieved glamorous standings, even for a toilet association, the reality is that it started from a very humble, simple background.  At the age of 25, Mr. Sim started in business and was quite successful. By age 40, he was comfortably wealthy and pondering retirement, or starting a new business. He then had the inkling that perhaps, rather than put his wealth on a roulette wheel once again just to make more money, a change was in order. “I was looking for something meaningful,” he says. “Death is a sure thing and I might as well do something positive. I saw toilets and sanitation as a neglected area, something that in many cultures, people were afraid to talk about. I figured it couldn’t get any worse, so it was time to make a difference.” With that very simple motivation, he got things flowing. “The more difficult the challenge, the more kick you get from solving it,” he says. “For me, it was about becoming an ordinary human being again, and just feeling happy.” Jack Sim recently spoke at ISEAS as part of their ongoing series on climate change and environmental issues.
 The National Museum of Singapore was graced last night with some of Southeast Asia’s leading innovators. Both native talent and international experts were showcased in an event hosted by Qi Global. The event themed Human Progress in Harmony with Nature was incredibly significant, not only for the speakers, but for the fact that it sought to connect people with the ability to create change. “When you ask someone if they think that climate change is happening, they say yes. When you ask them if they are doing anything about it, they say no. Where did that disconnect happen?” questioned Paul Coleman, director of Qi Global. “We want to inspire people to think about the long term, and simply put, care about the future.” The evening was full of people who did exactly that, many starting out from extremely humble means and little money. Dr. Willie Smits, founder of the Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation was one such example. He arrived in Indonesia from the Netherlands and became smitten with the local wildlife. Very quickly he realized the large scale destruction that plagues rainforests in Indonesia, with poor farmers clashing and burning in order to open up areas to agricultural land. In 1998 alone, over 5.5 million hectares were lost to fires set by locals, which were exasperated by layers of coal near the surface. For roughly 3 months, only minor sunlight could get through the thick haze of smoke. Under such conditions, the native orangutans are frequently driven from their habitat, often turning up in villages where they quickly become food for impoverished locals. Dr. Smits sought to change all that, and starting only with small donations bought up incremental parcels of land. Using mixed agriculture techniques, he slowly transformed acres of landscape from agricultural plain back to rainforest. “Interaction lead to innovation,” he said. “We used over 1232 different species of plants to regenerate the area, not just for nature, but for human well-being also.”  In this mix was bamboo that could be harvested for a number of uses, as well as the highly valuable sugar palms. Far different than oil palms, sugar palms provide 20 times more jobs, and also have an extremely high sugar component making them valuable as an ethanol biofuel source. People in the area were taught these farming techniques and recruited for the replanting efforts that have reclaimed an every growing area of land each year. Dr. Smits used diversity of plants and their purposes to fulfill not only ecological roles, but also to help create livelihoods for locals so they could step beyond their traditional slash and burn methods. The evening’s raffle went to benefit the project. Also in Indonesia, designer and entrepreneur Singgih Susilo Karotono helped transform his village of Kandangan in Central Java. He developed a high quality process for manufacturing a wide range of handcrafted wooden pieces, from chopsticks to radios. Working alongside European buyers, he created a market for his products and grown his business to the point that it now employs 30 locals. Like Dr. Smits, Singgih had more than just ecological outcomes in mind. He wanted the products to redefine how people viewed with and interacted with nature. “A product is part of our life and people often have a strong connection with what they own. We need to have a similar relationship with the environment as we are all a part of nature,” he said. “Beyond reduce, reuse, and recycle that everyone knows, we need to redefine what our lives and products are like in the first place.” His formula was simple: use small amounts of wood to craft high quality, high value products that are beautiful and sell for a fair price point. Teach the local craftspeople how to manufacture at this level and help them learn business skills to regenerate the local economy. Use profits from the business to regenerate local environment and encourage the planting of new trees, not only for future material, but for ecological benefit.  A Thai based designer took a different approach. Dr. Singh Intrachooto (centre right) the design principal at Osisu was overwhelmed by the sheer amount of agricultural waste Thailand produced annually. “Right now, we focus too much on the product, not on the process,” he said. “Often something we make creates as much as 32x the waste as the final product we use.” Some 38 million tons of waste emerges from farming everything from rice to oranges every year in Thailand, not to mention the waste that comes from manufacturing processes that produce everything from buttons to foam for sofas. Dr. Singh set about experimenting with the different materials, seeing how they could be given new life. One by one, new products took shape. Old steel pipes were reborn as park benches, pop tops as stylish handbags, plastic waste as chic modern seating. His solutions were genius in how they used waste streams as primary materials, and how they challenged what we think of as conventionally designed products. His designs are in hot demand with audiences across Asia and as far away as Europe. The evening’s events also included presentations from Filipino designer Kenneth Cobonpue (above image, left), world-renowned Danish conservationist Lone Droscher Nielsen (above image, right) and acclaimed jewelry designer John Hardy who founded the Green School in Bali. What all these stories had in common was the ability for every day people to transform our world for the better, starting in their own “backyard” and often by trying to tackle a single problem.  The innovation demonstrated in all of these stories was extremely inspiring. Beyond the luminaries presenting on stage, there was plenty of local talent on hand at the event, including the controversial Ivy Singh-Lim (image right, centre) of Bollywood Organics, model and presenter Nadya Hutagulang, and fashionable green scenester Olivia Choong. While interest in sustainability issues in Asia might be a slow process, it seems likely that the tide is shifting. The room was packed with everyone from gallery owners to product designers and bankers; over 200 people attended on the evening. With interest and enthusiasm we look forward to upcoming events. What matters most to New Zealanders? It’s a pretty worthwhile question to ask, and the answer is gets us to the heart of what’s important. However, what would seem like a pretty straightforward connecting of dots in reality isn’t so simple. Policy leaders at all levels of government look to such statistics as OECD rankings and how much the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) went up or down as keys to our success. But are these measures really an accurate portrayal of prosperity and wellbeing in the country, or are they in some ways standing in the way of genuine progress? Take GDP for example. What was originally intended as a nice easy number for economists to get a sense of the economy’s volume has become synonymous with the health of a country. To economists, if the GDP goes up, then we must be doing well, right? Growth is good. It’s the mantra we live by.  Well, have you had a car accident? Gotten really sick? Been hospitalized? Lose your house in a mudslide and will have to rebuild? Congratulations, you're doing good for the economy. That doesn't sound so good to you? Some expenditure measured by GDP really signals decline in wellbeing. Thing is, there is no distinguishing good from bad. A simple fact about GDP is that one of its key architects, Simon Kuznet, gave a warning about its use: never use it as a measure of a country’s welfare. We seem to have strayed from its intent of purpose, yet it continues to misguide actions and policy to this day. While GDP may oversimplify a complex situation, there thankfully are alternatives. Enter something called the Genuine Progress Index (GPI). It is a system of 20 components across social, economic, environmental, and cultural areas that’s been researched and created over the last 13 years by Canada’s Dr. Ron Coleman. Cutting down trees and turning them into houses might be good for GDP, but what about the value of the forest in terms of ecological services that will be lost? This is exactly the economic reality that has been ignored to date, and aided humanity in outstripping nearly ecosystem on the planet. As Rod Oram said, “There’s no central bank to bailout a bankrupt ecosystem.” The idea of GPI is to get a comprehensive view of what’s going up, what’s going down, and make conclusions from a more comprehensive set of data—in other words, a full-cost accounting.  Last week, as part of a nationwide speaking tour sponsored by Anew New Zealand, Dr. Coleman briefly discussed the GPI in a candid interview, and then gave a thought provoking presentation on how the index might be used to predict disasters such as the economic meltdown we’re still wading our way through. “It’s too hard and impractical to try and roll up such disparate things as employment, community cohesion, and fisheries stocks into a single number,” Dr. Coleman says. “We need integration to show the links between the different areas we are measuring of the Genuine Progress Index. An index gives us a holistic view and can better inform our policy decisions.” From his native Nova Scotia, to the government of Bhutan, to New Zealand’s capital of Wellington, Dr. Coleman’s ideas have been internationally well-received. The new government in Nova Scotia has adopted GPI, and locally the Maori Party has embraced the principles as part of their platform. The Wellington Regional Council is implementing GPI to monitor indicators across the community. Its goal is maintaining Wellington’s competitive advantage as a good place to live. As there is flexibility with GPI, the indicators have been tailored to suit their local needs, rather than blanketing a one-size-fits-all strategy. Back in Nova Scotia, Dr. Coleman’s GPI has been successfully used to predict several significant shifts: - a decline in volunteerism (and negative social changes as a result),
- collapsing fish stocks after a record boom period (and subsequent loss of thousands of jobs in a key local industry),
- a steady decline of local farming economies (it’s no longer viable to work the fields, so farmers are inclined to sell land to developers),
- and the substantial growth of consumer debt versus income— and the financial crisis that followed.
It’s a noteworthy track record, and with many questioning what got us into our current mess, it’s not surprising Dr. Coleman’s ideas are gaining interest. So far the stimulus packages developed by governments worldwide are fighting off the worst edge of what could be happening. “But taking on government debt to fight the collapse of insolvent banks and faulty industries is a bit like fighting fire with fire. There are issues out there, the big ones including climate change, peak energy, and resource depletion. What will we do when the chickens come home to roost, and we’ve already thrown our trillions at the problems we’re facing today?” Dr. Coleman says. Using climate change as one example, what happens when a disastrous weather event causes havoc to the scale of what happened in New Orleans? Decades of economic gain in the form of infrastructure can be destroyed in a matter of just a few hours. Even proponents of GDP should be able to see the logic: we need better measures and better decisions.  Dr. Coleman reckons that interest in a new system of will grow in the coming months as bailouts lose their steam and people become more vocal about changing the system that created the problems to begin with. Priorities will inevitably shift. Dave Breuer, the Founding Director of Anew New Zealand agrees. “We need to challenge the misuse of GDP and use a GPI to strengthen democracy independent of partisan politics,” Breuer says. “Increasing the wellbeing of our country should be the chief outcome of our actions at every level.” Along with Statistics New Zealand, Breuer has hosted a series of nationwide workshops aiming at developing a nationwide GPI for the country. So far, there’s been significant public engagement and a strong interest in how we go forward in the future. And what exactly does the future look like? “Creative adjustment to a smaller economy is the way forward,” Dr. Coleman says. “If there is any growth area of the future, it should be aligned with solving big threats like climate change. This is where stimulus is a good investment.” Events over the last year have made clearer than ever before how we equate unchecked growth with progress and wellbeing, and how unrealistic that assumption is. Either we revisit the decisions we’ve made and the tools we’ve used to make them, or we flirt with a future that, with the recent course of events as a painful example, looks less than bright. The time for a new model has come. Check out more from Dr. Ron Coleman on GPI in this video clip:  Our friend Peter Salmon of Moxie Design is involved both here in New Zealand and internationally in shaping “green” and “sustainable” brands. Recently, while attending the Sustainable Brands ’09 conference in Monterrey California, he became acquainted with Duke Stump of The NorthStar Manifesto. Thanks to Peter and Duke, a crowd of Auckland professionals interested in brand identity got to hear an interesting discourse on the future of companies and the products they offer. According to Duke Stump, who had worked previously with Nike and Seventh Generation in the U.S. before setting out on his own, green is (surprise) getting overused to the point of greenwash. The word sustainable has likewise lost much if any meaning it might have had previously. So how is a company interested in “doing the right thing” to market themselves? (continues) While small and land-strapped, the busy metropolis of Singapore actually has a countryside. Kranji is an area located just 30 minutes outside the city center, well outside the radar of the casual tourist. Far from the urban high rise cityscape, it hosts everything from military barracks to fish farms to wildlife parks. It is a place where people go to escape city life and experience a Singapore less ordinary. Nestled in this green corner of the country is a place known as Bollywood Veggies. If you’ve heard of the place, you know of its owner Ivy Singh-Lim. And if you’ve heard of Ivy, you know she’s a firecracker-- a local legend. A conversation with this activist will leave you inspired, challenged, perhaps a bit offended, but definitely refreshed. For a 60 year-old woman, Ivy possesses more energy than most apathetic people two generations younger. I dropped in to check out their 10 acre organic farm and bistro eatery and got more than I bargained for.  Over a glass of ice water in the sweltering heat, Ivy tells her story. “My second husband and I met and got married in 3 days. Twenty-seven years later we are still trying to decide who was drunk and who was desperate,” she laughs, her eyes engaged firmly the whole time.
“We were both running businesses. I was the child of a rich landowner family who owned large tracts of property. Whether by family background or career choice, I could have chosen to retire and not do much,” she says. (continues)  Singapore is a bustling city state at the southern tip of peninsular Malaysia. Independent from Malaysia since 1965, it has a dense population of 4.7 million people crammed into 269 sq. miles (697 sq. km)— that’s roughly 3.5x the size of Washington D.C.
In spite of its lacking land mass, the tiny country is a major economic hub in Southeast Asia and boasts one of the best standards of living of any Asian city, and even rivals many metropolis overseas. It’s a city that is well planned, tightly regulated, visually attractive, and thankfully lacking the woeful pollution that afflict other centers like Hong Kong and Shanghai. Waste and the City All the economic activity and large population of course is not without its downside: waste. In 2008 the total volume of solid waste had reached 5.97 million tons. Luckily, according to government figures, roughly 2.24 million tons (approx. 56%) of this was recycled. That still left a lot left to deal with. (continues)  The Netherlands has a reputation for being progressive, from the environment to social initiatives. About twice the size of New Jersey, a large proportion of its landmass is below sea level. Protected (at least for the moment) by an elaborate system of dikes, the country is a center of creativity, efficiency, and diversity. It’s a place that is open-minded and broad thinking on everything from social programs to wind energy. A recent trip to Amsterdam also unveiled it is equally creative with its approach to waste management and water reclamation. (continues)
This updates a previous story about the Poh Ern Shih Temple in Singapore) 
One year after opening, and about two years after construction began, the Poh Ern Shih Temple (or Temple of Thanksgiving in English) is looking great. I’m dropping by to visit the temple and check out progress on this green Buddhist sanctuary.
The place is bustling with activity, and thankfully the first phase of construction has now been completed. On the day of my visit, several different religious study groups are in session upstairs, catering to the younger members of the Buddhist congregation. I locate Boon, the temple president, just before lunch and we sit down for a chat. “The building performance has been great,” he tells me. “We’ve generated 15 megawatts of power from our first phase PV systems so far in the first year, and we’re going to install another set in our second phase of construction.” (continues)  According to Peter Senge (from Environmental Leader):
Using the term “sustainability” does not spur society on to an ultimately better solution. Rather, it is a “negative vision,” said MIT Sloan’s Peter Senge, founder of the Society for Organizational Learning. “It’s just a bad word. It’s technically what we would call a ‘negative vision,’” said Senge, in an interview at MIT Sloan Management Review. To Senge, Senior Lecturer in Behavioral and Policy Sciences at the MIT Sloan School of Management, sustainability is about recognizing that global commerce tends to put most of the wealth in few hands, with devastating results in consumption patterns and resulting environmental and societal damage. “We don’t want the unsustainable, we don’t want civilization to collapse, we don’t want the human species to fail. Well, of course we don’t want that, but those images don’t move people. ‘Survival’ is not the most inspiring vision. It motivates out of fear, but it only motivates for as long as people feel the issues are pressing on them. Soon as the fear recedes, so does the motivation,” he told MIT Sloan Management Review. Instead of considering sustainability, society must look at reinventing its way of living, because population growth and commerce will render today’s version of sustainability unsustainable. He said a preferred term may be “All about the future.” Senge has noticed a trend of companies going from being “less bad” to “more good,” the interview notes. I've been reading John Thackara's "In the Bubble" book lately (it is an amazing read BTW). It discusses many design considerations in society, and among them, issues of speed and growth. Luckily, I also came across two really thought provoking articles online that also help round out new visions of how economies and businesses can function in the years ahead... and it's far from the gloom and doom you'd expect. First, check out this article by Herman E. Daly that was featured on The Oil Drum. He naturally has to spend some time describing what's going wrong in our economic system, but then presents some really worthwhile solutions for how we can make some essential reforms. It's a long article, but well worth the read and gives a brilliant "macro view" of the world economic system. On the micro side, I came across this article on Treehugger by a business consultant. He identifies how many "slow movements" (e.g. slow food, slow travel) are now making some people consider if one of the next "slow" pertains to business. He describes slow business as follows:
• Who you are matters. Work should be a meaningful expression of individuals. And any job description that doesn't allow this should be rewritten.
• The rest of your life matters. When people bring their Blackberries everywhere and work until 10pm, it creates the sense that work is the most important aspect of our lives. When you slow down, you enable others to do the same.
• Relationships matter. Being businesslike doesn't mean being less human. Let's acknowledge work is a part of life and start savoring the opportunities we have to develop real friendships (beyond small talk).
• Joy matters. It's 2009, we're supposed to be evolving. Why should any humans be expected to spend large amounts of time not enjoying themselves?
• Love matters (i.e., let's stop letting money drive our experiences as human beings) Work is more than a means to an end -- it is part of how we relate to our lives. That's why it means something to buy a hammer at a neighborhood hardware store that's staffed by people who love fixing things. The only reason businesses that don't create their own products or provide their services with love survive, is by being cheaper.
• The planet matters. It's absurd that people acknowledge environmental threats like global warming as being real, then oppose remedies to fix them as being "too expensive." What the heck are we going to do with all our money come Armageddon?
Seems like some pretty worthwhile insight. I mean, if you're not in business to enjoy yourself, enjoy the people you work with, and not look after the world that gives you the opportunity for commerce to begin with, what is the point really? (originally appearing on Celsias.com) For those interested in the "sustainability space" (interpret how you wish), you might find the thoughts of John Thackara quite refreshing. He runs an international conference and knowledge network called Doors of Perception which sets new agendas for design. John is also the author of the book "In the Bubble: Designing in a Complex World". Personally, I think the man is a genius. Both his newsletters and blog feature a headrush of inspiring material (warning, take in small doses!). In a somewhat recent post he delves into many of the same issues that we cover here on Celsias. For some food for thought, I've taken the liberty of posing a few excerpts here. Consider it mid-week mind exercise. Enjoy, and I'd be curious to hear your reactions and thoughts around these issues:  ] Introduction: measuring what matters
“These are my principles. If you don’t like them, I have others”. Groucho Marx could also have been talking about environmental standards. Our world is awash in eco information, but starved of meaning. Hundreds of organisations churn out a flood of reports, graphs, studies, punditry – and lists. So many lists! I'm supposed to be an expert on sustainability, but it still gives me a headache trying to keep track of the Triple Bottom Line; the Three Main Components (and Four System Conditions) of The Natural Step; One Planet Living's Ten Guiding Principles; the World Wildlife Fund's Three Forms of Solidarity; the Copenhagen Agenda's Ten Principles for Sustainable City Governance; the Framework of Eight Doorways of the Sustainable Schools Network; the 12 Indicators To Follow of the Earth Policy Institute; the 11 Indicators of a Sustainable City (developed by Montreal); and the Ten Hanover Principles promulgated by Bill McDonough. Each list is the result of deep thought by smart and dedicated people - and there are doubtless other important to-do lists out there that I've missed. But can we please agree: enough already? The pervasive tendency of politicians to dissemble adds to the uncertainty. Vague promises to use "as few natural resources as possible," "reduce waste to a minimum" or deliver the "greenest Olympics planned so far" amplifies our feelings of anxiety that not enough is being done - and that what is being done, is not being done fast enough.
How do we measure "sustainable"? What is the benchmark? How far is it from here, to there? And how long do we have to get there? In the transition towards a more balanced economy and society, we probably do have to take numbers and metrics seriously. And if a well-engineered new economic system is needed, we probably need it to be more like a German car than an Italian one. But this is not to say that numbers are all that matters. On the contrary, we a new synthesis of metrics and aesthetics. The what *and* the why are equally important. (continues...) Also appearing on Celsias.com, check out this hot off the press interview with David Holmgren:
 [Chris Tobias, Editor of Celsias] David, I just wanted to take a moment first to thank you for living such an inspiring, creative, and explorative life. I've been very interested in permaculture for the last few years, and I'm keen to discuss many of the themes that have emerged in your latest book, Future Scenarios: How Communities to Adapt to Peak Oil and Climate Change.
The book is really great concise reference. Thank you for not providing another 500 page thesis on either climate change or peak oil. Your treatment is really thoughtful and well analysed. Digging into the material, what I found really enlightening was your take on the challenges of climate change and peak oil to be ones that can have particularly positive results. Most people view these factors in a very "gloom and doom/the world is going to end" sort of way. Perhaps you can elaborate on some of your thoughts from the book? [David Holmgren] Permaculture arose out of the limits of resources and unsustainability of society 30 years ago. People could have come to permaculture for a variety of reasons over the years. Since the 1970s, Bill Mollison and I have been very touched by Club of Rome, the ongoing oil crisis, environmental impact issues, global food crisis, and how we narrowly averted catastrophes on so many occasions. A lot of these issues dating back to the 70's were largely swept under the carpet in 1980s and it no longer became acceptable to talk about "limits to growth". Later climate change became the galvanizing issue for the environmental movement, rather than just running out of resources. For me, over that long term, getting a better understanding that these things are taking place has meant I restructured what I believe in. I've changed my focus around the more positive outcomes will result from these inevitable shifts.  It works on two levels. One can change their own life in taking these issues as "Normal" (e.g. a world of scarce resources), become more self sufficient, and start doing things with nature rather than focusing on technological solutions. Through that process, you gradually become more comfortable with those realities becoming the norm. So actually the things we have been talking about, such as food being grown more locally for example, will become both economically and environmentally necessary. These trends make me comfortable. Looking at the numbers, even if we were living with a 10th of the resources we have now, we would be better off than many of our recent ancestors, and maybe even relatives several generations ago. There is the opportunity to bring back many patterns of human behavior that have served us well for centuries. While the changes ahead of us could be quite challenging, some many good things can come out of it. For example, the sense of community: decreased mobility and high energy cost will lead to people talking to their neighbours again... even if it is because they can't get away from it! Challenges will mean that people have to look out for each other. Real community isn't a "utopian" thing, it is a really basic thing... it is a normal human state. (continues) First, Getting Green Done from Greenbiz discussion how to get companies past the barriers to better business practices. Some good food for thought in there. Also, check out how to better mobilise initiatives to improve branding and take advantage of new opportunities by Tamara Giltsoff on PSFK. One particularly useful thought for companies to keep in mind:
"...educate your audience around specific issues (best related to the impact of your sector – water, energy, energy consumption, transportation etc.), present an alternative vision for the future, invest in it, create new markets by becoming part of the solution and then own the market."
This is an outstanding piece that was noticed by one of the crew at Nexus. Make sure you watch the whole minute and forty seconds to get the full profound effect. Very well done video.
Bill McKibben's first book The End of Nature was highly influential in putting climate change firmly at the top of the agenda for world leaders like Al Gore. More recently, McKibben founded 350.org. This rapidly growing global movement is working to raise awareness about, and action on, climate change issues. During his New Zealand visit, McKibben will be spreading the word about what it means to genuinely deal with climate change. We need to go beyond being more efficient or carbon neutral, and we need to start absorbing more carbon than we release.
Monday 4th May
Waitakere City: 9am – 11:30am, Central Auckland: 1pm – 3pm
for more info about the tour contact Aaron 027 351 9994
for more info see www.350.org.nz alsowww.350.organdwww.billmckibben.com | 350 parts per million (ppm) is the safe concentration of carbon doxide in the atmosphere for the planet. The current global concentration is 387ppm and increasing at 2ppm per year. Let’s turn it around! |
Well, for those of you geoengineering hacks who are keen on biochar, this week provided no lack of entertainment! Quite an uproar took place in UK based newspaper the Guardian. George Monbiot took aim at biochar and its promise to sequester carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. No holds barred either: "Sorry, not charcoal. We don't call it that any more. Now we say biochar. The idea is that wood and crop wastes are cooked to release the volatile components (which can be used as fuel), then the residue - the charcoal - is buried in the soil. According to the magical thinkers who promote it, the new miracle stops climate breakdown, replaces gas and petroleum, improves the fertility of the soil, reduces deforestation, cuts labour, creates employment, prevents respiratory disease and ensures that when you drop your toast it always lands butter side up. (I invented the last one, but give them time)." Toast landing butter side up? If only! He went on to pick, poke, and prod biochar for a few more paragraphs, and implicated a few heavyweight proponents...
(read the rest on Celsias.com) Regarding this post on PSFK "Is 'Planet Earth' The Key To Our Eco Failure?": I don’t think we call the place that we live as our planet. We don’t use the term ‘Earth’ as the familiar name of the place we live. We live in our ‘world’, we see the ‘world’ around us and we travel across the ‘world’ sometimes to the other side of the globe. Could the use of the words ‘planet’ and ‘Earth’ by environmentalists of all strips have a negative impact on the public’s perception and relationship to important issues? ...
Maybe ‘Planet’ and ‘Earth’ are too connected in our minds to science and not to our daily lives, maybe the use of those words sounds a little Sci-Fi for the rest of us to really digest and take seriously. It’s interesting to note that there is no mention of ‘planet’ or ‘Earth’ in Obama’s Agenda for the Environment either. I’m not saying that these words aren’t used by enviornmentalists. It’s just that their use of words that don’t relate to the world around us, might psychologically obstruct our support for international solutions to combat environmental damage around the globe.
I'd like to agree with Piers' comments and draw the line a bit further. I think that when we use "the environment" in a description of the world around us, we have a similar disconnect as what he describes here. The environment? Don't we live here, breathe air, drink water? Is "the environment" over there ---> somewhere? Definitely part of the issue in getting people's heads around important environmental and planetary issues is finding the right language to reach them. Something we all have to work on is connecting people to the reality of the challenges facing the world in a meaningful way, one that inspires understanding and action. Through the miracle of hydroponics, we now have this:
A house that is alive. It's official, you've now seen everything. Keep reading... Circulated by our friends at Natural Path Media, here is a lot to be hopeful about: - Consumers are increasingly aligning their purchases with their values. According to a recent report by BBMG, 9 in 10 Americans agree that the term "conscious consumer" describes them well.
- A November 2008 Economist survey of managers and senior executives (sponsored by Cisco, HP, Qualcomm and SAS) found that Corporate citizenship is viewed as becoming increasingly important for the long-term health of their companies.
- A McKinsey Quarterly survey found that companies with a strong position in the green market may be able to better protect their market share from competitors. Large brand advertisers have discovered that Moms, which pour $1.7 billion into the US economy each year, are especially receptive to cause marketing.
- A recent survey conducted by Millard Brown found that both women without children (86.4%) and moms (85.6%) feel it's important for companies to support causes and charities and an overwhelming (97.3%) of corporate marketers believed that cause branding is a valid business strategy.
- The Hartman Group's latest report, "Sustainability: The Rise of Consumer Responsibility", gives further support that consumers aren't throwing out the (green) baby with the (economic decline) bathwater. The survey represents the latest report that shows environmental responsibility not going away during these difficult economic times. In particular, the report found more than 75 percent consider environmental and social aspects in deciding what to buy and about a third are willing to pay more for those benefits.
- A recent and very comprehensive report, published this January 09 by The Boston Consulting Group, concludes this question with a resounding Yes: consumers will continue to seek out green products, despite the economy.
- The Boston Consulting Group (BCG, just issued an extensive report: "Capturing the Green Advantage Consumer Companies". The BCG report, based on interviews with 9,000 consumers in North America, Europe, China, and Japan and other research, found that consumers bought more green goods in 2008 than they did in 2007 and that many "consumers greatly value the direct benefits that green products offer, such as superior freshness and taste, the promise of safety and health, and savings on energy costs." The BCG report found that consumers were willing to pay higher prices for green products deemed to be of high quality.
Ecostore Founder Malcolm Rands also said this week at a speech in Auckland that in general, people were gravitating towards environmentally and fairly traded products because, in a world of financial fall outs and corporate spin, these brands had promises that they could believe in.
From John Bielenberg: “All along the way, people were inspired not just by the act itself, but by how this grassroots effort was conceived and executed. It’s an example of how the process of thinking wrong can lead to something that doesn’t feel wrong at all.” Not only does thinking wrong often not feel wrong, contends Bielenberg, it may just be the most effective means of doing right. “The more diverse minds you have working on something, the more opportunity there is to make connections that one individual or one discipline wouldn’t make. In the activity of problem-solving on these big issues of sustainability and climate change, I think you need that diverse expertise in the room. Getting out of your comfort zone is where the really cool ideas come from.” And designers have an important seat at the table. “This is where we are very different from a think tank or an institute that considers the issues and writes white papers. Designers like to make stuff. It’s not just the idea generation, it’s the rapid prototyping, the execution, the bringing these ideas to life.”  From Joel Makower and his crew at Greenbiz.com, find the annual summary of green business here for download. This useful progress report highlights the ups and downs over the past year, as well as speculates on where the issues may take industries in the year ahead.
From the introduction:
"Last year, when we launched the inaugural State of Green Business
report, we set out to measure the environmental impacts of the growing
green economy. We were sobered and encouraged by what we found.
Our efforts to measure, for the first time ever, whether and how companies
were reducing their environmental impacts revealed mixed results:
More companies were doing more things, but moving the needle of
environmental progress only slightly, if at all.
(continues)
 Here's a really great interview with the legend of the environmental movement, James Lovelock. The full version can be found here in the New Scientist. Some highlights:
On Carbon Emissions...
"Do we have time to do a similar thing with carbon emissions to save ourselves from climate change? Not a hope in hell. Most of the "green" stuff is verging on a gigantic scam. Carbon trading, with its huge government subsidies, is just what finance and industry wanted. It's not going to do a damn thing about climate change, but it'll make a lot of money for a lot of people and postpone the moment of reckoning." On Survival...
"Do you think we will survive?
I'm an optimistic pessimist. I think it's wrong to assume we'll survive 2 °C of warming: there are already too many people on Earth. At 4 °C we could not survive with even one-tenth of our current population. The reason is we would not find enough food, unless we synthesised it. Because of this, the cull during this century is going to be huge, up to 90 per cent. The number of people remaining at the end of the century will probably be a billion or less. It has happened before: between the ice ages there were bottlenecks when there were only 2000 people left. It's happening again. I don't think humans react fast enough or are clever enough to handle what's coming up. Kyoto was 11 years ago. Virtually nothing's been done except endless talk and meetings. It's a depressing outlook. Not necessarily. I don't think 9 billion is better than 1 billion. I see humans as rather like the first photosynthesisers, which when they first appeared on the planet caused enormous damage by releasing oxygen - a nasty, poisonous gas. It took a long time, but it turned out in the end to be of enormous benefit. I look on humans in much the same light. For the first time in its 3.5 billion years of existence, the planet has an intelligent, communicating species that can consider the whole system and even do things about it. They are not yet bright enough, they have still to evolve quite a way, but they could become a very positive contributor to planetary welfare." Sobering words, but it does make you look at things from the widest view possible. We are on a rock spinning around the sun that's been here for millions of years. Humans, while we like to think of ourselves quite centrically, are really small peanuts in the scheme of things. I'd reckon any solutions we shoot for should really keep this reality in mind. Though, how realistic might that really be... Borrowed from Nick Rosen, www.Off-grid.net:
"I can’t stand the word “green,” says actress and biofuel campaigner Daryl Hannah. And she’s not the only one. All over the environmental movement we’ re sick of Greenwash, and we’re not going to take it any more. “It’s become a pedantic, smug, judgmental word that is unrelated to the rest of one’s life,” she tells The Guardian newspaper. The word ‘green’ “is being so overused as a marketing tool that it has no credibility,” says Hannah. She is right, of course. Advertising people love the word Green – they have rendered it almost meaningless – reduced it to a mix of lifestyle choices, expensive organic whimsies, unaffordable building codes and ridiculous gadgets such as an over-designed composter for your marble kitchen counter-top. Their shade of Green is the color of Astroturf – synthetic, ugly and potentially damaging. Porter Novelli, the global public relations firm, says, “even the tardiest marketers are scrambling to make green attributes and launch new products and services positioned as more responsible alternatives.” Its time that environmentalists re-appropriated the language of ecology – seized it back from the new army of marketers and consultants who are reassuring us that we can all go “green” while we continue to consume as much as before – grow the economy as much as before, just so long as we do it in a new “green” way. This time we need something the marketers will never want to appropriate – and that’s why Brown may be the new Green. It’s the color of the Earth, of dirt – it reminds us that things smell as they compost, it reassures us that we do not necessarily need to put on a clean white shirt to go to work. But Madison Avenue does not like stains. Try saying “Brown Huggies.” It will never take off. The Green Party could change it s name to the Brown Party and Greenpeace become Brownpeace. Hannah is proud of growing her own food (not all of it surely?). But as she says:”we’re in the midst of a massive population explosion, a credit crisis, there’s climate chaos, poverty, unprecedented loss of species, loss of open wild space, resource depletion and growing dead zones and yet we still act slowly, if at all. What’s wrong with us?” And what would she save, apart from her family and friends, come the floods? “My critters, seeds, eggs, medicinal spores and worms.” Brown eggs, I hope, Daryl. Courtesy of Professor Stuart B. Hill, Foundation Chair of Social Ecology, School of Education, University of Western Sydney.
Because of the holistic nature of the approach being advocated, all of the areas below overlap & are highly interactive & interrelated. This was written in response to the Commonwealth Government’s announcement of the Australia 2020 Summit in Canberra, ACT (19-20 April, 2008: http://www.australia2020.gov.au/). 1. Getting the usual ‘experts’ (mostly older males) together to talk & plan - always leads to tinkering with existing (flawed) plans – [‘rearranging the deckchairs on the Titanic’] - excludes most, including those affected by such plans & their fresh ideas Need - involve mostly ‘different’ people, including (if possible) those most affected - start by focusing not on plans, but on values, beliefs, worldviews & paradigms - then feelings & passions - then, emergent from these, hopes, dreams, visions, imaginings, & creative thoughts - only then can ‘design/redesign-based plans’ be enabled to emerge (these proactively enable systems [structures & processes] to meet long-term to short-term, & broad to specific, goals, & to make systems as ‘problem-proof’ as possible) - then critically analyse, integrate, & flesh these out, etc - detail participatory opportunities, responsibilities, time lines, resource & support needs, means for monitoring outcomes (feedback), tracking progress, & for ongoing redesigning & fine tuning (Continues) 
What will those clever Europeans come up with next? An all inclusive, all supporting, erm... box... to live in. With a catchy marketing tagline of "Less stuff, more nature" the Micro Compact Home (or M-CH) provides all of life's basics in a tiny footprint, both in terms of size (2.6m2) as well as resource consumption. It's sleek, insulated shape means that it uses very little energy, and can even be powered by a solar panel mounted to the mast. I'm not sure why I find efficiency so undeniably sexy, but M-CH is mine if they ever start shipping to New Zealand. Check out more specs on the Micro Compact Home website. 
Yes, we were surprised too. So imagine yourself high in the treetop canopy, shooting around on a zipline, stopping occasionally to admire the scenery-- and learning about ways to improve how the we design every day processes to be attuned with the world around us. Enter Ziptrek Ecotours, an innovative company based up in Whistler, Canada that educates high flying thrill seekers about The Natural Step framework while delivering a unique tourism experience. The company has been quite successful in recent years and received heaps of critical acclaim. Plenty of bigwigs have given it a go (think Richard Branson etc.) -AND- the company has expansion plans for new markets in 2009! Check them out. Located on a historic rise on the southern coast of Singapore, the Poh Ern Shih Temple (or Temple of Thanksgiving) is a shining example of what can be achieved with a group dedicated to social and environmental objectives. (continues)   | |