Corporations have a responsibility to be mindful of their impact on social, environmental and human health issues impacted by their policies and products. Our finite planetary resources are fast dwindling and destroying the very fabric of life. #CSR #Sustainability #SocioEconomics #GDP #EcoEconomics #Brands #Environment #ClimateChange #
On April 2, the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality approved a widely-protested plan that would allow the snack company Nestlé to pump 250 GALLONS 0F WATER A MINUTE from White Pine Springs (For Almost FREE) which the company will then bottle, brand like Nestlé Pure Life Purified Water or Ice Mountain 100% Natural Spring Water, and sell (at least in New York) for about $2.50 a pop.
The timing brings to the forefront an issue of increasing international importance: the privatization of water.
La Paz in Bolivia, Cape Town in South Africa, and numerous other cities are hitting the rocky bottom of their natural aquifers and glacial reserves.
The companies that bottle water often do so cheaply, which means companies are pocketing the vast majority of those billions, instead of sharing them with the cities from which they take water. In the case of Nestlé’s operations in Michigan, the company was paying just $200 in extraction fees, according to a 2017 investigation by Bloomberg
The Truth about Nestlé's Business with Water (Documentary)
To be able to sell and make money from water, you first have to own it. The Swiss film "Bottled Life" documents the booming business with bottled water, by focusing on the global leader in this lucrative multi-billion dollar market – namely, the Nestlé corporation in Switzerland. Nestlé currently controls more than 70% of the world's bottled water brandshttp://www.bottledlifefilm.com/index.php/the-story.html
EurActive, December 06, 2012 - ▶ PLANT-BASED PLASTIC BOTTLE NO PANACEA. Food and drinks companies are engaged in a global race for leadership on plant-based renewable plastics. SPECIAL REPORT
To be able to sell and make money from water, you first have to own it. The Swiss film "Bottled Life" documents the booming business with bottled water, by focusing on the global leader in this lucrative multi-billion dollar market – namely, the Nestlé corporation in Switzerland. Nestlé currently controls more than 70% of the world's bottled water brandshttp://www.bottledlifefilm.com/index.php/the-story.html AND http://en.bottledlife.tv/
DailyKoz, April 13, 2015 - ▶ NESTLE HAS BEEN PUMPING WATER FROM A CALIFORNIA NATIONAL FOREST WITH AN EXPIRED PERMIT FOR OVER 25 YEARS
- ▶ NESTLE, ARROWHEAD TAPPING WATER FREE FROM CALIFORNIA'S MORONGO RESERVATION. The Companies are exporting a seriously limited resource with no oversighthttp://ow.ly/zd4DX
- ▶ NESTLE POLAND SPRING BOTTLED WATER. The people who live in Fryeburg, Maine can only access their local spring water by buying it in a plastic bottle. That’s because this small town’s spring water is currently controlled by Nestlé, and Nestlé wants to lock up its control over the town’s water with a massive 45-year contract -- children in the town will be grandparents before they are able to challenge it.http://act.storyofstuff.org/page/s/nestle-poland-spring-bottled-water
MintPress News, March 20, 2015 - ▶ NESTLE CONTINUES STEALING WORLD'S WATER DURING DROUGHT. Nestlé is draining California aquifers, from Sacramento alone taking 80 million gallons annually. Nestlé then sells the people's water back to them at great profit under many dozen brand names. http://www.mintpressnews.com/nestle-continues-stealing-worlds-water-during-drought/203544/
Documentary 1:15:09 Examines the role of the bottled water industry and its effects on our health, climate change, pollution, and our reliance on oil. The documentary is well structured and presents an overwhelming amount of evidence which will change the way anyone thinks about bottled and municipal water.http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/tapped/
July 12, 2013 Slate
-▶ YOU ARE PAYING 300 TIMES MORE FOR BOTTLED WATER THAN TAP WATERhttp://ow.ly/mX2oR
FastCoExist, August 26, 2014 IN BEIJING YOU CAN PAY FOR TRAIN RIDES WITH PLASTIC BOTTLES. Across the world, there are many ways to encourage recycling. Tax breaks, virtual points, deposit payments--there's no shortage of ideas. Recently, we even came across a machine in Istanbul that gives out dog food in return for a bottle or two. Beijing is now taking its own approach by giving free train rides and mobile phone top-ups to people redeeming used plastic. Machines in 34 locations take bottle deposits and calculate their worth, issuing a credit to the person's mobile account or transit pass. Sensors scan the bottle's weight and composition, then prompt users to choose their option.http://www.fastcoexist.com/3034720/in-beijing-you-can-pay-for-train-rides-with-plastic-bottles
Throughout the meeting, a misleading notion was continually raised that using private capital to fund water systems somehow constitutes an innovative approach to financing. This couldn’t be further from the truth....http://ecowatch.com/2013/will-public-water-be-privatized/
WATCH "FLOW: FOR LOVE OF WATER" 93 min Irena Salina's award-winning documentary investigation into what experts label the most important political and environmental issue of the 21st Century - The World Water Crisis. Salina builds a case against the growing privatization of the world's dwindling fresh water supply with an unflinching focus on politics, pollution, human rights, and the emergence of a domineering world water cartel.http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/flow-for-love-of-water/
in order to sell and make money off from water, you have to own water. since the population is growing water is becoming scarce. the nestle corporation owns more than 70% of bottled water brand.
Guardian, June 01, 2014 ▶ WHO'S IN CONTROL? -- NATION STATE OR GLOBAL CORPORATIONS? "By many measures, corporations are more central players in global affairs than nations," writes Benjamin Barber in Jihad vs McWorld. "We call them multinational but they are more accurately understood as postnational, transnational or even anti-national. For they abjure the very idea of nations or any other parochialism that limits them in time or space." "We are in government but not in power," said Lula's close aide, Dominican friar Frei Betto. "Power today is global power, the power of the big companies, the power of financial capital."http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/jun/02/control-nation-states-corporations-autonomy-neoliberalism
NPR, November 17, 2014 ▶ TOP SPENDERS ON CAPITOL HILL PAY BILLIONS, RECEIVE TRILLIONS.The Sunlight foundation took the 200 corporations most active in Washington, analyzed the years 2007-2012 and applied several metrics: what the companies got in federal contracts and other federal support, what they spent on lobbying, how much their executives and political action committees gave in campaign contributions.http://www.npr.org/2014/11/17/364591114/top-spenders-on-capitol-hill-pay-billions-receive-trillions
RT Business, March 04, 2015 ▶ BP CEO GETS 35% PAY RISE IN 2014 - FREEZES PAY OF ITS 84,000 WORKFORCE AROUND THE WORLD. Dudley's remuneration rose from $10.17 million in 2013 to $12.74 million last year, according to BP’s annual report released Tuesday. He also received $9.8 million in share awards. In January the company cuts its capital spending program and imposed a salary freeze... http://rt.com/business/237617-bp-dudley-remuneration-rise/
Institute for Policy Studies, November 13, 2014 -▶ REPORT: FLEECING UNCLE SAM. A growing number of corporations spend more on executive compensation than federal income taxes.http://www.ips-dc.org/fleecing-uncle-sam/
Guardian Environment, February 03 2015 ▶'SUPPRESSED' EU REPORT COULD HAVE BANNED 31 HARMFUL HORMONE-DISRUPTING CHEMICALS/PESTICIDES WORTH BILLIONS -- UNDER PRESSURE FROM BIG CHEMICAL FIRMS
Peak Prosperity, December 03, 2014 -▶ OIL AND THE GLOBAL SLOWDOWN:We are being driven by our system of money, we serve it not the other way around, which is a tragedy of both epic and comic proportions. http://www.peakprosperity.com/blog/89380/oil-and-global-slowdown
Alternet, November 21, 2014 -▶ THE U.S. GOVERNMENT HAS BECOME A CLEARING HOUSE FOR BIG MONEY. Health insurers, media and telecommunications, retailers, Big Pharma – no wonder Washington’s K Street is lobbying’s road to Paradise.
▶ Scholar Henry Giroux says America's current political system is leading to a culture where people are so focused on surviving, they become like 'the walking dead.' A Culture Driven By Lust for Money and Powerhttp://billmoyers.com/segment/henry-giroux-on-zombie-politics/
CNBC News, November 20, 2014 ▶ OBESITY AS A BUSINESS: HOW MUCH OBESITY IS COSTING US. INVESTORS SEE GENEROUS PROFITS IN OBESITY EPIDEMIC
Our expanding waistlines are costing the global economy almost as much to deal with as smoking and military conflict, according to a new report by the McKinsey Global Institute. The annual global bill for obesity for lost productivity and treating conditions like diabetes, heart disease and certain cancers is $2 trillion. That’s nearly as much as the $2.1 trillion smoking or war and conflict costs the global economy, a group of analysts at the research institute concluded. http://www.cnbc.com/id/102203044
▶ BIG PHARMA, BIG BUCKS: ENDING DRUG MONOPOLIES, MEGA PROFITS AND STRANGLEHOLD ON PATENTS -- PEOPLE ARE DYINGhttp://sco.lt/5WVBkP
===========================
HOW MEGA BANKS DROVE A MACK TRUCK THRU A LOOPHOLE TO DOMINATE AND CONTROL GLOBAL POLITICS, INDUSTRY AND SOCIETY
▶ FINANCIALIZING NATURE COULD BANKRUPT US ALL: OLD ECONOMICS OR SUSTAINING POLICY?http://sco.lt/8Y7sK9
- ▶ WHY GOOGLE AND SONY ARE TURNING TO NATURE TO INSPIRE THEIR LEADERShttp://sco.lt/5SDsGH
▶ SHOULD COMPANIES COMPENSATE SOCIETY FOR ENVIRONMENTAL DESTRUCTION FROM WHICH THEY PROFIT?http://sco.lt/5x2tqz
VIDEO
-▶ FOREIGN CORPORATIONS DESTROYING ECOSYSTEMS, INDIGENOUS LIVELIHOODS, NULLIFYING LAND RIGHTS, CREATING DEPENDENCY AND POVERTY ON A GLOBAL SCALEhttp://sco.lt/4l725B
▶ WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT CORPORATE PALM OIL -- IN ONE SHORT VIDEO -- DEFORESTATION, ECOCIDEhttp://sco.lt/6ni33R
Euractive, November 17, 2014 -▶ FRENCH GOVERNMENT WILL NOT SIGN TTIP AGREEMENT IN 2015Matthias Fekl, France's Secretary of State for Foreign Trade, has made it clear that France will not support the inclusion of the Investor State Dispute Settlement mechanism (ISDS) in a potential TTIP agreement. The ISDS is a point of heated debate between the EU and the United States. This mechanism could give companies the opportunity to take legal action against a state whose legislation has a negative impact on their economic activity. http://www.euractiv.com/sections/trade-society/french-government-will-not-sign-ttip-agreement-2015-310037
Action Aid Report, May 23, 2014 ▶ GLOBAL POLICIES ENCOURAGE LAND GRABBING AND WORSEN HUNGER AND POVERTY. “Allowing land to become vehicles for wealthy corporations and individuals to become richer while pushing vulnerable rural people into poverty and hunger is unjust, unwise and unethical,” it said in the report.http://www.trust.org/item/20140523061928-bn12w/
▶ LAND GRABS: HOW FOREIGN "INVESTMENTS" ARE REDISTRIBUTING WEALTH, LAND AND WATER ACROSS THE GLOBE
Guardian, November 19, 2014 ▶ SECRET DOCUMENTS REVEALED: KEYSTONE XL PIPELINE COMPANY'S PR BLITZ TO SAFEGUARD ITS BACK UP PLAN -- HORRIFYING. Energy East strategy drawn up by public relations firm Edelman calls for thousands of activists, major online campaign and digging into background of opposition groups as methods TransCanada Corporation should use to ‘play offence’ against its detractors
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- ▶ URBAN NATURE: HOW TO FOSTER BIODIVERSITY IN WORLD'S CITIES. As the world becomes more urbanized, researchers and city managers from Baltimore to Britain are recognizing the importance of providing urban habitat that can support biodiversity. It just may be the start of an urban wildlife movement...http://www.globalpossibilities.org/urban-nature-how-to-foster-biodiversity-in-worlds-cities/
Mother Nature Network, March 25, 2015 - ▶ EXPERIENCING NATURE MAKES US MORE LIKELY TO SAVE IT.A new study took a look at this relationship and found that we might have a kinder, gentler society if we all just spent a little more time outside.
Harvard Gazette, December 24, 2014 - ▶NATURE AND WELL BEING : A KEY URBAN PLANNING INTERSECTION Is there a dose of nature that can help make city dwellers’ lives healthier and more productive? Research suggests that the answer is yes, but also that the issue is more complex than that simple formulation. http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2014/12/a-key-urban-intersection/
NASA Earth Observatory - ▶ BRIGHT LIGHTS, BIG CITY. Like it or not, throughout this century, the United States has undergone a steady process of urbanization as a larger and larger percentage of the population has moved towards the cities. Unlike rural communities, urban sprawl completely transforms the landscape and the soil and alters the surrounding ecosystem and the climate.http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Features/Lights/
- ▶ RESEARCH CONFIRMS FOR THE FIRST TIME THAT GREEN SPACE DOES IMPROVE MENTAL HEALTH AND HAPPINESS.
The new study compared the mental well-being of hundreds of people in the UK who moved from a grey urban setting to a greener area to those who moved in the opposite direction.The results revealed that those surrounded by nature felt happier and more content for many years.
OutsideOnline, September 25, 2014 STUDY: HIKING MAKES YOU HAPPIER.British and American scientists have published new research showing that group nature walks help us combat stress while boosting mental well-being
The WILD Foundation also recently launched the WILD Cities Project, which it describes as “a new concept of urbanism where wild nature is highly valued and its conservation is a conscious part of human life in cities worldwide” [3]. Goals of the WILD Cities Project include identifying successful urban initiatives aligned with the principles of Nature Needs Half, formulating criteria for defining a WILD city, and developing strategies to communicate to the public the need for nature in our cities.http://wild10.org/en/program/the-global-foru/working-coalitions/wild-cities
- ▶ LIFE FINDS A WAY: THE SURPRISING BIODIVERSITY OF CITIES.
Public perception of wildlife tends to be tied to natural habitats such as forests, ocean and other wild settings. However, cities can provide habitat for many animals and plants. In the largest global assessment of urban biodiversity to date, published in Proceedings of the Royal Society, researchers examined the biodiversity of urban areas and found that cities are home to a surprising number of species. The study underlines the conservation importance of preserving and creating green spaces when it comes to urban planning. Read more at http://news.mongabay.com/2014/0411-levikov-cities-biodiversity.html#fBOegyyVwsoUc3Vf.99
- ▶ THE GREEN LEAP: CAN WE CONSTRUCT URBAN COMMUNITIES THAT CONSERVE BIODIVERSITY?
Why are green developments different? The goals are conservation while providing a unique living experience. Biodiversity, however, often is lower on the totem pole of priorities.
For the first time in our history, more people live in urban vs. rural areas and humans continue to move into cities. Cities have huge impacts on our natural resources. Urban dwellers consume vast amounts of energy, produce waste, and alter landscapes to the point where native plant and animal populations decline precipitously. As cities grow, people have pondered -- can we develop land without destroying our natural heritage?.. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mark-hostetler/the-green-leap-can-we-con_b_1314981.html
HOW FINANCIAL DEREGULATION IS DESTROYING THE WORLD
Rolling Stone, Matt Tabbi, February 12, 2014
How Mega Banks, Corporations Drove A Mack Truck Thru A Loophole to Dominate and Control Global Politics, Industry and Society.
Banks are no longer just financing heavy industry. They are actually buying it up and inventing bigger, bolder and scarier scams than ever.
Today, banks like Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan Chase and Goldman Sachs own oil tankers, run airports and control huge quantities of coal, natural gas, heating oil, electric power and precious metals. They likewise can now be found exerting direct control over the supply of a whole galaxy of raw materials crucial to world industry and to society in general, including everything from food products to metals like zinc, copper, tin, nickel and, most infamously thanks to a recent high-profile scandal, aluminum. And they're doing it not just here but abroad as well: In Denmark, thousands took to the streets in protest in recent weeks, vampire-squid banners in hand, when news came out that Goldman Sachs was about to buy a 19 percent stake in Dong Energy, a national electric provider. The furor inspired mass resignations of ministers from the government's ruling coalition, as the Danish public wondered how an American investment bank could possibly hold so much influence over the state energy grid.
Wall Street's War
But banks aren't just buying stuff, they're buying whole industrial processes. They're buying oil that's still in the ground, the tankers that move it across the sea, the refineries that turn it into fuel, and the pipelines that bring it to your home. Then, just for kicks, they're also betting on the timing and efficiency of these same industrial processes in the financial markets – buying and selling oil stocks on the stock exchange, oil futures on the futures market, swaps on the swaps market, etc.
But those are purely financial schemes. In these new, even scarier kinds of manipulations, banks that own whole chains of physical business interests have been caught rigging prices in those industries.
Mother Jones, September 11, 2014 -▶ THE RICH ARE EATING RICHER, THE POOR ARE EATING POORER.First of all, incomes have stagnated. Overall real median incomes today stand at 1989 levels, as this September US Federal Reserve report shows. And real median incomes declined 5 percent between 2010 and 2013, the report shows, even as income levels at the top expanded. That means that the "recovery" of the past three years hasn't felt like much of one for millions of families... http://www.motherjones.com/tom-philpott/2014/09/food-inequality
Truthout, September 11, 2014 -▶ AN ECONOMIC HIT MAN SPEAKS OUT: JOHN PERKINS ON HOW INDEBTED COUNTRIES HAVE FALLEN VICTIM TO "ECONOMIC HIT MEN" In the case of Greece today, it's the IMF, World Bank and the EU [European Union] that make tremendous demands on the country: increase taxes, cut back on spending, sell public sector utilities to private companies, things like power companies and water systems, transportation systems, privatize those, and basically become a slave to us, to the corporations...organizations like the World Bank, the IMF, the EU, are tools of the big corporations, what I call the "corporatocracy."http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/26112-an-economic-hit-man-speaks-out-john-perkins-on-how-greece-has-fallen-victim-to-economic-hit-men
-▶ MULTI-NATIONAL CORPORATIONS INCREASINGLY ABANDONING AMERICA TO AVOID REGULATIONS AND TAXESTheir antennae point to places where taxes are very low, labor is wage slavery, independent unions are non-existent, governments have their hands out, and equal justice under the rule of law does not exist.https://www.commondreams.org/view/2013/03/28-11
Guardian, January 23, 2015 -▶ AS INEQUALITY SOARS, THE NERVOUS SUPER RICH ARE ALREADY PLANNING THEIR ESCAPES. Hedge fund managers are preparing getaways by buying airstrips and farms in remote areas, former hedge fund partner tells Davos during session on inequality
VIDEO REPORT The Real News, October 24, 2014 THE FINANCIALIZATION OF LIFE: PROFITING WITHOUT PRODUCING.Costas Lapavitsas is a professor in economics at the University of London School of Oriental and African Studies. He teaches the political economy of finance, and he's a regular columnist for The Guardian.
Peak Prosperity, December 03, 2014 -▶ OIL AND THE GLOBAL SLOWDOWN:We are being driven by our system of money, we serve it not the other way around, which is a tragedy of both epic and comic proportions. http://www.peakprosperity.com/blog/89380/oil-and-global-slowdown
▶ SHOULD COMPANIES COMPENSATE SOCIETY FROM ENVIRONMENTAL DESTRUCTION FROM WHICH THEY PROFIThttp://sco.lt/5x2tqz
Guardian, October 13, 2014 -▶ AS THE RICH GET RICHER -- COULD TRIGGER A GLOBAL RECESSION. The richest 1% of the world’s population are getting wealthier, according to a Credit Suisse report which warned growing inequality could be a trigger for recession. “Taken together, the bottom half of the global population own less than 1% of total wealth. In sharp contrast, the richest decile hold 87% of [...]http://www.theguardian.com/business/2014/oct/14/richest-1percent-half-global-wealth-credit-suisse-report
Joseph Fichera's op-ed in the New York Times shows the full depravity of Wall Street's resistance to regulation, says white collar criminologist Professor William Black
IMPOVERISHED JAILED FOR INABILITY TO PAY FINES OR OLD DEBTS : INEQUALITY WIDENS http://sco.lt/68dlAX
ProPublica, September 15, 2014 -▶ UNSEEN TOLL: WAGES OF MILLIONS SEIZED TO PAY PAST DEBTS. A new study provides the first-ever tally of how many employees lose up to a quarter of their paychecks over debts like unpaid credit card or medical bills and student loans.http://www.propublica.org/article/unseen-toll-wages-of-millions-seized-to-pay-past-debts
A TRILLION DOLLAR BUSINESS: PREDATORY LOANS AND AN UNKNOWN FUTUREhttp://sco.lt/8wWGOX
Center for Public Integrity, February 17, 2014
-▶ AFTER THE MELTDOWN: In the fall of 2008, the U.S. economy nearly collapsed thanks to an unprecedented wave of mortgage foreclosures. In “After the Meltdown — Where are they now?” the Center for Public Integrity revisits the subprime lenders, Wall Street banks and government regulators that were most responsible for the crash — and finds few if any have been held accountable. http://www.publicintegrity.org/business/finance/after-meltdown
Since the industrial revolution, human activities haven’t usually followed cycles. Instead, they have been based on extraction, followed by manufacturing, use and disposal: the ‘take – make – use – discard’ linear process. Natural systems can cope with this up to a point without being unduly perturbed. Unfortunately, with so many people driving the use of so many resources and the production of so much waste, we have now affected many natural cycles and the consequences are far reaching. It is true that over the last 25 years or so, there has been a trend towards recycling and reuse, although this was often driven initially by the need to reduce waste going to landfill. The circular economy approach takes this a lot further. By ignoring natural cycles rather than working with them, we are warming the planet, reducing biodiversity and could threaten the ability of humans to have a high quality of life. In case you think this is just the view of someone with a professional environmental interest, you might want to take a look at what the MoD strategic outlook up to 2045. has to say about the environment.
-▶ CIRCULAR ECONOMY IS A NEW WAY OF DOING BUSINESS
Look closely at the challenges facing our world and the circular economy makes business sense. Companies are turning to a new model of sustainable business in an effort to reduce their dependence on finite resources...
The sense that our planet is running out of the minerals, metals and organic matter required to sustain its rising human population has helped to fashion a new concept for our times: the circular economy. At its core is the argument that the old, linear model of conducting business – extraction, consumption and waste – is past its sell-by date...http://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/circular-economy-new-way-doing-business
Guardian Sustainable Business, June 25, 2014 -▶ FROM A LINEAR TO A CIRCULAR WORLD: SHIFT TO A CIRCULAR ECONOMY IS UNDER WAY, FROM CROP WASTE TO SOLAR.In reality, there are no scarce resources, we just make them scarce. Through new supply chains, technology and policy, we can secure a future for generations.http://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/shift-circular-economy-crop-waste-solar
Guardian Sustainable Business, July 10, 2014 -▶ FIVE NEW WAYS THE CIRCULAR ECONOMY CAN BUILD BRAND EXPERIENCE.Among some of the world's top corporate leaders, there's a growing understanding that the traditional linear business model – built on the presumption of unlimited and cheap natural resources – must be reworked for 21st-century realities. http://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/five-ways-circular-economy-brand-experience
▶ ERADICATING ECOCIDE: WHY BUSINESS LEADERS MUST STEP UP TO THE CHALLENGEhttp://sco.lt/7uGWKv
-▶ WHY GOOGLE AND SONY ARE TURNING TO NATURE TO INSPIRE THEIR LEADERS. The Wisdom of Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh http://sco.lt/81MvkP
▶ FUTURE GENERATIONS TO PAY FOR OUR MISTAKES: BIODIVERSITY LOSS IMPACT MAY NOT APPEAR FOR DECADEShttp://sco.lt/5k2si1
▶ BUSINESS SHOULD CONTRIBUTE TO SOCIAL HEALTH AND WELL BEING OF THEIR LOCAL COMMUNITIEShttp://sco.lt/5Ktuuf
-▶ NO TO BIODIVERSITY OFFSETTING (INVESTING LIKE AN ECOSYSTEMhttp://sco.lt/7xzjKj
-▶ THE EVOLUTION OF BUSINESS: HOW A NEW BUSINESS ERA INSPIRED BY NATURE, NOT GREED, CAN BENEFIT US ALLhttp://sco.lt/97vmc5
January 17, 2013 YES Magazine
-▶ RELIGION, SCIENCE AND SPIRIT: A SACRED STORY OF OUR TIME.Humanity’s current behavior threatens Earth’s capacity to support life and relegates more than a billion people to lives of destitutionhttp://sco.lt/8rb8DZ
-▶ A CULTURE SEPARATED FROM NATURE CANNOT SURVIVE: BANKRUPTING NATUREhttp://sco.lt/7HFVYH
-▶ESSAY: ECOLOGY IS THE MEANING OF LIFE: EMBRACING A SENSE OF "ENOUGHNESS"http://sco.lt/7xGTJZ
-▶ ECONOMIC SUCCESS ALONE IS NOT ENOUGH TO IMPROVE OUR WELL BEINGhttp://sco.lt/7J7VnF
Zero Footprint requires a circular economy, where all outputs must be accounted for as inputs elsewhere in the economy, where the entire lifecycle of all products is factored in, where 100% of waste becomes raw resources, powered by 100% renewable energy.
9 January, 2013 - The Guardian Environment - Tony Juniper:
-▶ THE ECONOMY AND NATURE
Nature is not a drag on growth – its protection is an unavoidable prerequisite for sustaining economic development.
The value of the carbon capture services which could be gained through halving the deforestation rate by 2030 is around $3.7 trillion
One of the greatest misconceptions of our time is the idea that there is somehow a choice between economic development and sustaining nature. ...environmental goals need to be scaled back to promote more growth. The reality we inhabit is somewhat different, however. One hundred per cent of economic activity is dependent on the services and benefits provided by nature... http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/blog/2013/jan/09/economy-nature
Guardian Sustainable Business, February 19, 2015 -▶ ENVISIONING A FUTURE WITH LESS DOOM AND GLOOM: OPPORTUNITIES FOR THE NEXT GENERATION OF OPTIMISTS :
Bill Shireman, president of Future 500, a global nonprofit that connects corporations and NGOs to overcome sustainability challenges
THE BIOSPHERE: NATURE IS ALL WE HAVE. Imagine an economic community in which nobody could list the stakeholders or identify those about to default. Or try to set a value on a reference library that has catalogued only a fraction of its archive, and some of that wrongly. Think of a reserve bank with most of its ledgers missing. Humankind is in that kind of predicament: it depends almost entirely on natural capital to generate food and fibre, building materials, fuel and pharmaceuticals, to pollinate crops, filter drinking water, recycle waste and maintain the oxygen supply. Living things underwrite all national economies: money, in effect, really does grow on trees.
Taxonomists identify around 18,000 new species each year, but in the same 12 months a greater number may slip into oblivion, as humans raze forests, pave or plough grasslands, bulldoze hillsides, drain swamps and dredge estuaries.Each extinction represents an asset lost or an opportunity squandered. Yet the human impact on the planetary ecosystem is now so palpable that geologists have proposed a new chronological era, the anthropocene, and biologists already call this "the sixth great extinction".
NEW SHORT VIDEOS Guardian Environment, October 06, 2014 Nature has been around for more than 4.5 billion years, evolving and adjusting to whatever the universe throws at it. People, on the other hand, are very fragile and entirely dependent on what nature provides.
**PLEASE SHARE** Excerpted from: http://www.endofgrowth.com Richard Heinberg propose a startling diagnosis: humanity has reached a fundamental turning point in its economic history. The expansionary trajectory of industrial civilization is colliding with non-negotiable natural limits.
Scaling sustainability is vital for global prosperity and consumers need to be on board to make it happen, says Peter Lacy from Davos... @guardiansusbiz
To address the issue of scale and sustainable consumption, the fundamental dynamics of supply, demand and rules of the game will need to be shifted to support a world in which we are able to drive growth but with less impact on the natural environment.
This page includes a brief, but thorough, overview of our human impact on the environment, the consequences of such an impact and one important question to consider.
Pambazuka,March 16, 2014 ▶ HEDGE FUNDS AND CORPORATE RAIDERS IN AFRICA: SPACE INVADERS OF THE THIRD KIND. The new wave of ‘looting’ of land and other natural resources will likely continue on a scale hitherto unknown. Whatever the supposed benefits of this trend, urgent attention ought to be turned to the thousands of people in Africa and other emerging nations who will become landless in the countries of their birth.
In the nineteenth century scramble for Africa, European colonial powers took control of the continent’s land, resources and people. Today’s multinational corporations, aided by governments, are taking control over Africa’s food system.http://www.wdm.org.uk/new-scramble-africa-food-monsanto-syngenta-yara/
-▶ WALL STREET TAKES AIM AT FARMLAND: THREATENING FUTURE OF U.S. AND WORLD AGRICULTURE http://sco.lt/9HBsPZ
LAND GRABS
HOW FOREIGN "INVESTMENTS" ARE REDISTRIBUTING WEALTH, LAND AND WATER ACROSS THE GLOBEhttp://sco.lt/5YJpKb
MintPress News, April 01, 2015 -▶ GEORGE SOROS LOOKS TO CO-OWN UKRAINE AND AFRICA.The Hungarian-born economic hitman may be more interested in helping his, and other investor’s, pockets, rather than the people of Ukraine. http://www.mintpressnews.com/george-soros-looks-to-co-own-ukraine/203866/
OBAMA PUTS G8, BIG 6 BIOTECH CHEMICAL GMO GIANTS IN CHARGE OF "ENDING HUNGER" IN AFRICA http://sco.lt/7ENN8D
THE 21st CENTURY CORPORATE SCRAMBLE FOR AFRICA World Development Movement -▶ STOP THE CORPORATE TAKEOVER OF AFRICA'S FOOD. Under the guise of tackling hunger, initiatives like the G8 New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition, will help corporations take control over Africa’s land, seeds and markets - at the expense of small farmers. Join our campaign to oppose this twenty-first century corporate scramble for Africa. - See more at: http://www.wdm.org.uk/food#sthash.dgDwkdF0.dpufhttp://www.wdm.org.uk/food
-▶ THE CORPORATE 'PHILANTHROCAPITALISTS' TAKEOVER OF AFRICAN AND GLOBAL FOOD SECURITYhttp://sco.lt/6CHP3R
Mongabay, August 20, 2014 -▶ LOOMING MINING 'TSUNAMI' SET TO TAKE AFRICA BY STORM. A new report published by a team of scientists from James Cook University in Cairns, Australia, documents a surging tide of foreign interest in mining in Africa and cautions that the sector’s unchecked development and expansion could devastate the environment.http://news.mongabay.com/2014/0820-gfrn-john-cannon-africa-mining-tsunami.html?n3ws1ttr
WATCH "BIG MEN" (1:23:00) Big Men provides an unprecedented inside look at the global deal making and dark underside of energy development in Ghana, Nigeria, Africa — a contest for money and power that is reshaping the world. http://www.pbs.org/pov/bigmen/full.php
Guardian Global Development, February 18, 2014 ▶ THE G8 AND THE CORPORATE TAKE OVER OF AFRICAN FARMING.As part of the New Alliance, 10 African governments have signed up to change dozens of laws, policies and regulations to make their countries more attractive to the private sector. Collectively, they have made more than 200 commitments, including the overhaul of seed and tax laws and the setting aside of hundreds of thousands of hectares of land for commercial investors. http://www.theguardian.com/global-development/interactive/2014/feb/18/g8-fight-future-african-farming-interactive
farmlandgrab.org, August 04, 2014 ▶ CORPORATE INFLUENCE THROUGH THE G8NA AND OBAMA'S NEW ALLIANCE FOR FOOD SECURITY AND NUTRITION IN AFRICA. In recent times, new partnerships models between governments, business and civil society are increasingly gaining attention. One prominent example is the "New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition" (G8NA), inaugurated at the G8 summit 2012 in the United States.
This working paper concludes that the approach and objectives of the G8NA are highly problematic. The initiative serves as an enforcing mechanism for corporate driven blueprints for agriculture and sidelines national plans and international standards. It is dominated and tailored towards the interests of big corporate actors and is based on a reductionist approach of agricultural “development”. And lastly, the G8NA is poorly institutionalized and disregards fundamental principles of transparency participation and accountability. http://farmlandgrab.org/post/view/23793
Action Aid Report, May 23, 2014 ▶ GLOBAL POLICIES ENCOURAGE LAND GRABBING AND WORSEN HUNGER AND POVERTY.“Allowing land to become vehicles for wealthy corporations and individuals to become richer while pushing vulnerable rural people into poverty and hunger is unjust, unwise and unethical,” it said in the report.http://www.trust.org/item/20140523061928-bn12w/
Inter Press Service, August 04, 2014 ▶ THE 'GLOBAL' LAND RUSH.The first years of the twenty-first century will be remembered for a global land rush of nearly unprecedented scale.Today, enthusiasm for agriculture borders on speculative mania. When the price of food spiked in 2008, pushing the number of hungry people in the world to over one billion, it spiked the interest of investors as well, and within a year foreign land deals in the developing world rose by a staggering 200 percent.http://www.ipsnews.net/2014/08/the-global-land-rush/
GRAIN, October 23, 2014 ▶ HARVEST OF HARDSHIP: YALA SWAMP LAND GRAB DESTROYS KENYAN FARMERS' LIVELIHOOD.Dominion Farms arrived in Kenya's Yala Swamp basin in 2004 with big promises. The company claimed it would turn a defunct state demonstration farm into a modern rice plantation, provide locals with good jobs, and build hospitals and schools. The American owner of the company, Calvin Burgess, presented himself as a 'man of God', on a mission to bring US-style progress to Africa. The locals, sold on this grand vision, decided – with some hesitation and dissent – to allow Dominion to farm on 3,700 ha of their lands...http://www.grain.org/article/entries/5061-harvest-of-hardship-yala-swamp-land-grab-destroys-kenyan-farmers-livelihoods
HuffPost Politics, November 28, 2014 ▶ OBAMA'S PLAN TO 'POWER AFRICA' GETS OFF TO A DIM START.As with many African aid projects, rights groups have criticized Power Africa as mostly being a vehicle to subsidize U.S. companies.http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/11/28/obama-africa-aid_n_6234774.html
Pambazuka -Voices for Freedom and Justice in Africa
▶ HOW COMPANIES FRAME ISSUES OF FOOD AND GLOBAL HUNGER FOR THEIR OWN SELF-INTEREST AND BOTTOMLINE PROFITS
There is a new, but deceptive, foreign drive to end hunger in Africa through large-scale agribusiness. Yet helping poor households in rural Africa feed themselves in an affordable manner means introducing low-cost, sustainable enhancements to farming.
History is riddled with examples of the poor dying of hunger when food was plentiful. Classic amongst these is the famine which wracked the West African Sahel during the early 1970s. While people were dying of hunger in Senegal, Mali and Niger, peanuts — a key sauce ingredient and source of protein across the region — were being exported to Europe....
...The rise of philanthrocapitalism in the US, where former and current business leaders, through the strength of their foundations, have increasingly come to influence the shape and direction of US international development programmes. Central to the philanthrocapitalist worldview is a belief that private enterprise is the fundamental agent of progressive change and that business acumen trumps other forms of expertise...http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/85291
Pambazuka, July 24. 2014 -▶ GMOs AND FOOD SOVEREIGNTY: WHICH WAY AFRICA? African governments are under intense pressure from within but also from big agribusiness and Western governments to embrace GMOs. Governments must resist all forms of arm-twisting and food colonialism and make their biotechnology choices based on the factshttp://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/92594
▶ A PRIVATE AFFAIR: REPORT SHOWS HOW DEVELOPMENT FINANCE INSTITUTIONS BENEFIT THE RICH IN WESTERN COUNTRIESThe European Network on Debt and Development (Eurodad) launched today the study A Private Affair in which it shows how the world’s biggest multilateral lenders are using billions of euros of loans in developing countries to finance Western-based companies while excluding governments and citizens of countries they are meant to assist from decision-making.
- ▶ HOW CORPORATE LOBBYISTS CONQUERED AMERICAN DEMOCRACY. One has to go back to the Gilded Age to find business in such a dominant political position in American politics.
Something is out of balance in Washington. Corporations now spend about $2.6 billion a year on reported lobbying expenditures—more than the $2 billion we spend to fund the House ($1.18 billion) and Senate ($860 million). It’s a gap that has been widening since corporate lobbying began to regularly exceed the combined House-Senate budget in the early 2000s. Today, the biggest companies have upwards of 100 lobbyists representing them, allowing them to be everywhere, all the time. For every dollar spent on lobbying by labor unions and public-interest groups together, large corporations and their associations now spend $34. Of the 100 organizations that spend the most on lobbying, 95 consistently represent business.
-▶ THE TRUTH ABOUT LOBBYING: 10 WAYS BUSINESS CONTROLS GOVERNMENTS. Whether facing down a threat to profits from a corporate tax hike, or pushing for market opportunities – such as government privatisations – lobbying has become another way of making money. Here are the 10 key steps that lobbying businesses will follow to bend government to their will.http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/mar/12/lobbying-10-ways-corprations-influence-government
Sometimes stories in the news can make you wonder who is really pulling the strings. This 10-minute video exposes the role corporate lobby groups have in EU decision-making – who they are, how they get what they want, and how they affect you, and others like you all over Europe, from the food on your plate, to rules for bankers, to the chemicals allowed in everyday products. Watch, learn, and share!http://corporateeurope.org/power-lobbies/2014/11/ceo-video-corporate-lobby-tour
-▶ ECO-CIVILIZATION: CHINA'S BLUEPRINT FOR A NEW ERA, PDF
Eco-civilization: China's blueprint for a new era, provides international readers with an overview of key policy guidelines and priorities the country’s new leadership will adopt, focusing on its pioneering low carbon ‘eco-civilization’ concept, which will have a profound impact on China’s future economy. This is the first time that eco-civilization has been elevated to such a high-level, not only in parallel with, but also cutting across economic, political, cultural, and social systems. http://www.theclimategroup.org/_assets/files/China-Ecocivilisation.pdf
HuffingtonPost (Reuters) April 15, 2014
▶ CHINA TO PRIORITIZE ENVIRONMENT OVER ECONOMY AND DEVELOPMENT Smog-hit China is set to pass a new law that would give Beijing more powers to shut polluting factories and punish officials, and even place protected regions off-limits to industrial development. While some details of the fourth draft are still under discussion, it has been agreed that the principle of prioritising the environment above the economy will be enshrined in law, according to scholars who have been involved in the process. The fourth draft is due to be completed within weeks. ..http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/04/15/china-expected-to-elevate-environment_n_5150010.html
UNEP April 22, 2015 ESTABLISHING CHINA'S GREEN FINANCIAL SYSTEM
REPORT OF THE GREEN FINANCE TASK FORCE
The report is the outcome of a Green Finance Task Force which was tasked to develop policy, regulatory and market-innovations to better align China's financial system with the needs of green industry and sustainable development. The report recommends the development of financial institutions specialized in green lending and investment. http://www.unep.org/NewsCentre/default.aspx?DocumentID=26802&ArticleID=34981&l=en
The Guardian, January 07, 2015 -▶ CHINA ENCOURAGES ENVIRONMENTAL GROUPS TO SUE POLLUTERS.Groups that work to fight polluters judicially will gain special status and have court fees reduced, Supreme People’s Court says
Triple Pundit, November 13, 2014 ▶ CHINA'S 20% RENEWABLES COMMITMENT A CHALLENGE TO U.S. UTILITIES, China’s massive commitment to renewable energy will create economies of scale that will shatter current price levels around the world. Its success will bring to scale the technologies and processes required to integrate renewable energy into an electrical grid. China is on a path that will push the U.S. electric utility industry over a renewable energy cliff.http://www.triplepundit.com/2014/11/chinas-20-renewable-energy-commitment-challenges-u-s-electric-utility-industry/
New Scientist, December 16, 2014 -▶ "GREAT GREEN WALL" HELPS CHINA TACKLE DESERTIFICATION: China has planted a "Great Green Wall" of trees across the north of the country in a bid to prevent the spread of the Gobi and Taklamakan deserts -- and the strategy appears to be working. "Vegetation has improved and dust storms have decreased significantly in the Great Green Wall region, compared with other areas," says Minghong Tan of Beijing's Institute of Geographical Sciences and Natural Resources Research. http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg22429994.900-great-wall-of-trees-keeps-chinas-deserts-at-bay.html#.VJA1WsaHenj
The Climate Group, September 04, 2014 ▶ CHINA WILL LAUNCH WORLD'S BIGGEST CARBON MARKET IN 2016.China will launch its eagerly awaited national Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) in 2016. Once implemented, this market for carbon permit trading will become the biggest in the world, helping the largest greenhouse emitting nation to axe pollution. http://www.theclimategroup.org/what-we-do/news-and-blogs/china-will-launch-worlds-biggest-carbon-market-in-2016/
-▶ COULD A CHINESE CARBON CAP PAVE THE WAY FOR A GLOBAL CLIMATE DEAL?http://sco.lt/7knIW1
Earth Policy Institute, June 16, 2014 ▶ SOLAR POWER: CHINA LEADS WORLD TO SOLAR POWER RECORD IN 2013 In the last two years, countries around the world have added almost as much new solar photovoltaics (PV) capacity as had been added since the invention of the solar cell. Nearly 38,000 megawatts of PV came online in 2013, a new annual record. In all, the world’s installed PV generating capacity is now close to 140,000 megawatts—enough to power each home in Germany. Falling costs and effective policies continue to drive tremendous growth in solar power. http://www.earth-policy.org/indicators/C47/solar_power_2014
CHINA'S GENERATION GREEN Waste, Food Safety, Pollution & The China Dream
This series is about the generation that has inherited the waste, and a few members of that generation who are openly and actively trying to change the trajectory of the country to avoid disaster. Toronto Star,http://projects.thestar.com/chinas-generation-green/
▶ HOW CHINA'S YOUNG IDEALISTS ARE TURNING TO THE SOIL
Guardian Environment, December 20, 2014 ▶ 10 THING TO KNOW ABOUT CHINA, LATIN AMERICA AND THE ENVIRONMENT. New book argues Chinese firms’ presence in Latin America focuses on the most environmentally-damaging sectors
FastCoExist, August 26, 2014 ▶ IN BEIJING YOU CAN PAY FOR TRAIN RIDES WITH PLASTIC BOTTLES. Across the world, there are many ways to encourage recycling. Tax breaks, virtual points, deposit payments--there's no shortage of ideas. Recently, we even came across a machine in Istanbul that gives out dog food in return for a bottle or two. Beijing is now taking its own approach by giving free train rides and mobile phone top-ups to people redeeming used plastic. Machines in 34 locations take bottle deposits and calculate their worth, issuing a credit to the person's mobile account or transit pass. Sensors scan the bottle's weight and composition, then prompt users to choose their option.http://www.fastcoexist.com/3034720/in-beijing-you-can-pay-for-train-rides-with-plastic-bottles
Treehugger, March 08, 2014 -▶ BUILDING A BUBBLE-like BIOME IN BEIJING COULD LET RESIDENTS BREATHE CLEAN AIR. Beijing's notorious air pollution has reached beyond hazardous levels in recent years, with the city covered in thick, toxic smog for a good part of the year. While the Chinese government has implemented various pollution-battling policies like car bans and the planting of green roofs, others like London-based design firm Orproject have gone down the road of more extreme design measures -- suggesting the building of bubble-like biomes, sealed from outside pollution, that would allow residents to actually breathe clean air.http://www.treehugger.com/urban-design/beijing-bubbles-biome-clean-air-orproject.html
Ag Professional, August 01, 2014 -▶ CHINA ADOPTS STRICTER PESTICIDE RESIDUE STANDARD.The new standard includes 3,650 indices detailing the maximum allowable residue for 387 pesticides on 284 types of food, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and the National Health and Family Planning Commission, which jointly issued the standard. Compared with the current standard that took effect in 2012, the new standard contains 1,357 new indices covering 65 new pesticides and 43 new types of food. The standard covers vegetables, fruits, grain, edible oil, sugar, soft drinks, nuts, eggs and meat. It includes juice and preserved fruits for the first time.http://www.agprofessional.com/news/China-adopts-stricter-pesticide-residue-standard-269591991.html
While some details of the fourth draft are still under discussion, it has been agreed that the principle of prioritising the environment above the economy will be enshrined in law, according to scholars who have been involved in the process. The fourth draft is due to be completed within weeks.
"(Upholding) environmental protection as the fundamental principle is a huge change, and emphasises that the environment is a priority," said Cao Mingde, a law professor at the China University of Political Science and Law, who was involved in the drafting process.
Come April of 2015 China is ready to set a new law that gives Beijing more power against factories that are polluting the environment. This new law will allow them to punish business officials and place protected regions off-limits to industrial development. This new law states that the environment is a priority and will give the power to environmental enforcers to “veto” production in the industries until they have met their targets. They are also looking to eliminate the punishment of maximum fine as companies will pay this fine and still continue on with their same procedures.
I think that it is important for people to see a CSR program within their government and I feel that it is too strongly geared towards strictly corporations. We have seen in some cases such as the United States where ultimately the corporations run the show but the government needs to take responsibility as they have put themselves in the position to take care of the people and they need to live up to it.
I believe that getting rid of the fine penalty will be very beneficial for Beijing, you see too many cases where through a cost/benefit analysis companies will chose to take the risk of a maximum fine as they will still make more profit. An alternate solution such as a shutdown of the company whether it is permanent or temporary will be a greater threat and result in a greater desired outcome and better cooperation
▶ THE HIDDEN CONNECTIONS - SUPERORGANISATIONS: LEARNING FROM NATURE'S NETWORKS
Fritjof Capra, in his book ‘The Hidden Connections’ applies aspects of complexity theory, particularly the analysis of networks, to global capitalism and the state of the world; and eloquently argues the case that social systems such as organisations and networks are not just like living systems – they are living systems. The concept and theory of living systems (technically known as autopoiesis) was introduced in 1972 by Chilean biologists Humberto Maturana and Francisco Varela.
These ancients carry teachings in the ways that they live. They remind us of the enduring power that arises from mutualism, from the sharing of the gifts carried by each species.
▶ BEYOND BIODIVERSITY: A New Way of Looking at How Species Interconnect. Scientists are increasingly focusing not just on what species are present in an Ecosystem, but on the roles that certain key species play in shaping their Environment
Stanford Social Innovation Review, June 17, 2014 -▶ LOOKING TO NATURE FOR SOCIAL INNOVATION. If we foster new skills, tools, and techniques to explore and unearth the latent knowledge within and around us, then we can tap into a whole new source of ideas and inspiration for people solving social problems.http://www.ssireview.org/blog/entry/looking_to_nature_for_social_innovation
VIDEO Down To Earth, France 24, June 12, 2014 BIOMIMCRY: HACKING NATURE (10:50)
Architecture and Biologically-Inspired Engineering Biomimicry is the science of mimicking life. Have millions of years of evolution churned out all the answers? Down to Earth explores how biologically-inspired engineering is changing the way we innovate. From aircraft manufacturing, architecture for urban living, to reproducing synthetic spider silk, research and development laboratories are turning to nature for solutions. Proponents say the best recipes for innovation already exist and we just need to look around us.http://www.france24.com/en/20140609-down-to-earth-biomimicry-nature-technology-architecture-biology-engineering-airbus/
- ▶ A CULTURE SEPARATED FROM NATURE CANNOT SURVIVE: BANKRUPTING NATUREhttp://sco.lt/994B8L
A TED VIDEO Louie Schwartzberg: TED.com "HIDDEN MIRACLES OF THE NATURAL WORLD" We live in a world of unseeable beauty, so subtle and delicate that it is imperceptible to the human eye. To bring this invisible world to light, filmmaker Louie Schwartzberg bends the boundaries of time and space with high-speed cameras, time lapses and microscopes. http://www.ted.com/talks/louie_schwartzberg_hidden_miracles_of_the_natural_world
▶ INVESTING LIKE AN ECOSYSTEM: NO TO BIODIVERSITY OFFSETTING: NATURE IS PRICELESShttp://sco.lt/7xzjKj
ECOLOGICAL ARMAGEDDON
EXTINCTION CRISIS
IN 40 YEARS WE HAVE DISAPPEARED HALF OF THE WORLD'S WILD ANIMALS http://sco.lt/8fK5eT
▶ THE EVOLUTION OF BUSINESS: HOW A NEW BUSINESS ERA INSPIRED BY NATURE, NOT GREED, CAN BENEFIT US ALLhttp://sco.lt/97vmc5
NPR FreshAir, February 12, 2014 Interview With Elizabeth Kolbert, Author
▶ IN THE WORLD'S "SIXTH EXTINCTION": ARE HUMANS THE ASTEROID?Elizabeth Kolbert is the author of the new book The Sixth Extinction. It begins with a history of the "big five" extinctions of the past, and goes on to explain how human behavior is creating this sixth one — including our use of fossil fuels and the effects of climate change.
"We are effectively undoing the beauty and the variety and the richness of the world which has taken tens of millions of years to reach," Kolbert tells Fresh Air's Terry Gross. "... We're sort of unraveling that. ... We're doing, it's often said, a massive experiment on the planet and we really don't know what the end point is going to be."http://www.npr.org/2014/02/12/275885377/in-the-worlds-sixth-extinction-are-humans-the-asteroid
Fritjof Capra, in his book ‘The Hidden Connections’ applies aspects of complexity theory, particularly the analysis of networks, to global capitalism and the state of the world; and eloquently argues the case that social systems such as organisations and networks are not just like living systems, they are living systems. This parallel relationship between nature and technical complex systems Kelly describes as “vivi-systems” and he proposes that the “world of the made will soon be like the world of the born: autonomous, adaptable, and creative but, consequently out of our control. ” The hyper connection and web of life we can now experience through the use of digital tools and platforms will allow us to circumnavigate the old paradigm and develop for the collective greater good.
So how can we look to nature and use Biomimicry to help us optimise our groups and organisational communications to create real value in our social networks, to build or shape networked businesses that are built for resilience?
May 7, 2013 Los Angeles Times ▶ DYING FOR THE SHIRT ON YOUR BACK
... Yes, we seek justice. But in our rush to solve the case or help the victims, we refuse to see the real culprits: the global apparel industry and ourselves for being complicit in supporting or ignoring a system of trade and offshoring largely designed to bypass regulatory policy of every stripe, while putting maximum profit before people....http://articles.latimes.com/2013/may/07/opinion/la-oe-greenwald-bangladesh-triangle-fire-20130507
ThinkProgess, December 24, 2013 ▶ $40 MILLION COMPENSATION FUND FOR BANGLADESH FACTORY VICTIMS FORMED -- WITHOUT THE HELP OF ANY U.S. COMPANIES THAT BENEFIT FROM THEIR SLAVE LABORhttp://thinkprogress.org/economy/2013/12/24/3103211
Fearless Brands is a new weekly column dedicated to identifying and celebrating brands that are taking a stand, challenging the status quo, and working to build a better future. In other words, brands acting fearlessly. This is not a sponsored column, and brands do not pay to appear here. Do you know a fearless brand? Send submissions to rcangie@gmail.com.
Sustainability is a huge, complex, and daunting challenge. And a growing number of companies feel a sense of urgency to do something – anything – to show their stakeholders that they are paying attention. We recently came across the Harvard Business Journal article, Act Fast, but Not Necessarily First. Author Frank Partnoy makes a compelling case for more deliberate decision-making, saying: ... http://www.environmentalleader.com/2012/12/11/why-you-should-wait-to-act-on-sustainability/
I believe the bottom line decision-making criteria for the 21st Century Should Be "Does this harm the planet (environment) or human health? This should be held within the "cradle to cradle" concept, becoming mindful of our actions, innovations and manufacturing on a wholistic scale reminding us all that we depend on a healthy, balanced ecosystem for our very survival. We need to become partners in stewardship of the planet, not just sustain the status quo
Every well trained manager knows about the "four P's" of marketing. To make a sale, a company must offer the right product to meet customers' needs, and at the right price.
New research however, suggests that another "P" is growing in importance. Customers also care who the parent of the product is.
Qatar Automotive Gateway (Qatar Ag), has entered into a deal with Prodrive, one of the world’s leading automotive technology and motorsport businesses, to build and develop a cutting-edge automotive industry value chain in the country.
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in order to sell and make money off from water, you have to own water. since the population is growing water is becoming scarce. the nestle corporation owns more than 70% of bottled water brand.
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▶ BIODIVERSITY IS LIFE http://www.scoop.it/t/biodiversity-is-life
▶ OUR OCEANS NEED US http://www.scoop.it/t/our-oceans-need-us
▶ CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY http://www.scoop.it/t/environmental-and-human-health
▶ CLIMATE CHANGE WILL IMPACT US ALL http://www.scoop.it/t/changingplanet
▶ OUR FOOD, OUR HEALTH http://www.scoop.it/t/agriculture-gmos-pesticides