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Posts from the ‘Politics’ Category

Aug 16

frog
2 Comments

Boiling Billions of Frogs

Very seldom do I get very scared. But I am now.

A new report by the Belfer Centre for Science and International Affairs at the Harvard Kennedy School found “oil supply capacity is growing worldwide at such an unprecedented level that it might outpace consumption. This could lead to a glut of overproduction and a steep dip in oil prices.” http://bit.ly/Q825E1 More importantly, it could devastate high oil price driven investments and innovations in cleaner energy.

Worse yet, the report predicts petroleum prices will decline, even collapse sometime after 2015. If the petroleum industry was reticent to invest significantly in alternative energy when oil was seen as increasingly scarce, what’s the incentive for change now?

Not much: are you scared now? Read more

Dec 7

africa

In Africa……

I just wanted to let those of you who drop by to read my blog that I am on a lengthy mission for the UN in Africa, including stays in the newest country in the world, South Sudan, with stops in Ethiopia and Rwanda.

My days are filled with  people who give me great hope, though as always, time in Africa is ever so humbling. Read more

Nov 17

unhate

Benetton: the Bad Boy Singing Peace on Earth

Benneton’s fresh off the press campaign features “symbolic images of reconciliation — with a touch of ironic hope and constructive provocation — to stimulate reflection on how politics, faith and ideas, when they are divergent and mutually opposed, must still lead to dialogue and mediation…”  Oh yeah, it takes the form of pictures of the Pope kissing an Egyptian imam and President Obama kissing Chinese President Hu Jintao or Venezuelan President Chavez .  (see http://bit.ly/vGBL8N)

What is the difference between the 10 million advertisements promoting a lifestyle or body type that most of us aspire to but will never attain and what Benetton has just done with its latest “peace on earth while selling lots of clothes campaign?” Read more

Sep 23

consumer

Do Consumers Do the Right Thing Given the Choice? A Short Exchange with David Chandler of Strategic CSR

In several blog postings you may have noticed my extolling the virtues of tapping personal values as a means to more and better market driven sustainable development.

Personal values (PVs) are the values individuals hold dear and are ready to act on in the marketplace if given the chance.  PVs are powerful but they don’t always convert well into market signals, and companies, which have less than great antennas for things sustainable, have a hard time hearing them as a result.

One of my favorite thinkers in CSR, David Chandler (co-author with Bill Werther of Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility: Stakeholders in a Global Environment -  easily the best CSR textbook on the market), wrote about the PV market today in his thrice weekly and always thought provoking CSR posting (http://strategiccsr-sage.blogspot.com/).  I would like to share his original post and the short conversation that ensued between us. Read more

Sep 15

fountain-pen2

With One Swift Stroke…..

Politics almost always obscure simple solutions to complex problems, and it is frustrating to see the lengths CSR supporters have suffered to convince regulators, through long and arduous, oh-so-polite-not-to-upset-corporate-interests processes to arrive at something that is inevitable anyway.

I refer specifically to one of the most powerful and immediately available tools for motivating greater global economic sustainability: Mandatory Audited Sustainability Reports for companies listing on every major stock exchange in the world.

Read more

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