The Climate Debate Gloves Are Off

But who will win?

 

I just had to share this to make sure you didn’t miss it.

THE best magazine cover, story and quote for quite some time. A bold statement to the core of the climate denier community. Congratulations Josh Tyrangiel (Editor) and all at Bloomberg Businessweek.

There is already a robust and increasing discourse around climate change brought on by Hurricane Sandy and this for me is a great stick in the ground for where we are at today. There is more hope for tomorrow.

 

The cover…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The quote…

Our cover story this week may generate controversy, but only among the stupid. buswk.co/PIUzUl via @BW—
Josh (@Tyrangiel) November 01, 2012

 

 

The story…

http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2012-11-01/its-global-warming-stupid#p1

 

 

Sandy Creates US Climate Hope?

As I watch the revealing impact of the storm in the US and the power of nature wreaking havoc on the financial heartland of the US I wonder if we are witnessing the pivotal moment in the US climate change debate?

We cannot not underestimate the impact of an again vulnerable New York,  to overcome stubborn political denial and corporate lobbying. From a detached, long distance perspective I get an uneasy feeling of similarity to watching the initial aftermath of the atrocities of 9/11 as terrorism succeeded in passing the previously impermeable American defences. Their response then was a robust, to say the least, retaliation on those responsible, but who can be blamed for extreme weather in the case of Sandy and what realistic actions can be taken before the next storm? And there will be a next storm, and another.

Sandy has in one weather event demonstrated tangibly that nature inevitably, albeit at a distance for the most part, directs financial institutions,  not the other way around. As extreme weather becomes increasingly regular and grows in intensity as climate models predict, will this week like none before ignite the fuse of US coherent action beyond political differences? I’m an optimist, we have to be. This, like never before in history is an opportunity for a true leader to step forward.

It will be interesting to watch the remainder of both Barack Obama’s and Mitt Romney’s campaigns and assess where climate now stands in their sales pitches to American voters. Could the storm ravaged surroundings of Wall Street be the setting for a renewed response to climate change and the unexpected vote winner of both the US public and financial community?

 

Yes we can repair this world

Barack Obama (at 12 minutes in the video below).

 

Genuine Leadership Comes From MERIT*

The world needs leaders, and more than ever leaders with a strong moral compass.

You may remember my post about 2012  To Be  Big Year For Somebody, if not Your Big Year is a global competition aimed at identifying and nurturing the young  leaders of the future from across the globe through a year of travel and meeting current world leaders. Year one was big. Year two was bigger, and next year will see something new and even bigger.

Here is last year’s Your Big Year winner, the amazing Charles Batte, to set the scene…

 

The evolution is called World MERIT* (the asterisk is part of the brand!) and takes the concept well beyond that of Your Big Year.

The huge challenges of our tomorrows require a new breed of leader today. We have all been let down by those in historic positions of power across business and society that now require inspiration from those who are genuinely and tangibly connected to grassroots communities. Your Big Year began to unearth countless potential talented people from diverse backgrounds but could never nurture more than the overall individual winners. That needed to change.

So without further ado, relax and enjoy…

 

Trust me, this is going to be BIG. World MERIT* will officially launch later this year, and this is just the tip of the iceberg with a revolution being nurtured in parallel behind the WM* scenes.

I’ve agreed to help Chris Arnold (@MERITChris) and his team spread the message to the corporate world to help identify those looking to find potential World MERIT* candidates in their own organisations. So if you want more information about engaging your company send me message and I’ll connect you to Chris.

Watch this space…

What Are The Euro 2012 Sponsors Going To Do About Racism?

Tonight’s edition of  the BBC’s Panorama series was entitled “Euro 2012: Stadiums of Hate” which I hadn’t planned to watch but thought it was worth 30 mins in the background.

If you didn’t manage to catch it (you can watch via BBC’s iPlayer if available where you are)  Chris Rogers, an investigative journalist, spent some time in Poland / Ukraine to see for himself the racism and anti-Semitism and to pose the question “How safe will the travelling teams and fans be at Euro 2012?”.

This is not about creating a passionate storm over a few incidents caught on camera, but those that were captured screamed (and yes I am making assumptions) warnings of a deeper societal problem. It wasn’t the fact that there were obviously minority groups acting or merely talking about violence it was the ingrained nature of the images and tolerance demonstrated by the local authorities and footballing regulators.

To see almost professionally created  murals (and no signs of attempted removal), chanting on a grand scale (crowds of at least hundreds at one  game) and stomach churning sickening and obscene physical brutality caught on camera in a relatively condensed period of research was an emotionally jarring experience.

New EU Definition and Strategy for CSR

The European Union publishes 2011 – 2014 strategy on CSR

The new definition of CSR in the eyes of the European Union is

The responsibility of enterprises for their impacts on society.

It’s only a fifteen page document and well worth a read as another stake in the ground for the accelerating development of CSR as a core business consideration. It never goes as far as many stakeholders would have liked it to, but then again it never was. For me it’s a pretty well balanced carrot and stick approach that owes much to work already done for ISO 26000.

There is one particular paragraph that sums up the ethos of CSR beyond the above definition:

To maximise the creation of shared value, enterprises are encouraged to adopt a long term, strategic approach to CSR, and to explore the opportunities for developing innovative products, services and business models that contribute to societal wellbeing and lead to higher quality and more productive jobs.

…which sounds scarily like my usual description when defending CSR.

The rest of the document outlines the alignment with

FIFA To Kiss And Make Up

Photo via http://www.CostelloEntertainments.co.uk

Apparently Henry Kissinger has been asked by the unchallenged and re-elected President, Sepp Blatter (@SeppBlatter), to clean up FIFA in the wake of the recent allegations of corruption.

In my humble opinion there are more than a couple of similarities between FIFA’s shenanigans and many of the financial institutions exposed by the economic troubles of recent years. Hubris definitely, and both supported because the powers-that-be believing they are needed for a common good. Some banks should have been allowed to fail by governments and those who voted for Mr Blatter have fallen into the same trap. Football fans deserve better.

The Guardian’s Simon Jenkins penned a prickly but accurate article on Tuesday that pretty much outlines the reality of the political context of unfortunately too many sporting organisations.

If FIFA was a horse it would probably be shot. Like many other sporting organisations it survives not because of great management but the passion of millions of supporters around the world parting with hard-earned cash to enjoy the entertainment, and that is all it is; entertainment.

Skoll World Forum 2011 Opens For Business

It’s my first time at the Skoll World Forum and the previous couple of week’s worth of business trips had conspired to smother any expectations I may have had since receiving the invite.

Without any thought of detailed expectations apart from a stellar line up and an educational trip to Oxford, it was always going to be a refreshing journey into the latest global state of play of  social entrepreneurship.

The event begins in earnest tomorrow with today providing mostly introductions, networking and a couple of fringe events but the opening plenary really got things moving.

Haunting yet stirring music from Senegalese singer and guitarist Baaba Mal instantly roused the audience to set the stage, literally, for Jeff Skoll himself, the ex-eBay President and now Founder and Chairman of the Skoll Foundation to open the event’s theme of  ”Large Scale Change – ecosystems, networks and collaborative action“.

One of Jeff’s favourite Oxford philosophers, Theodor Guisel, or Dr Suess as he’s better known, was offered up as an analogy for the world of social entrepreneurs. The 1920′s Oxford student’s decision to not only bend but break the rules of writing stories, according to Jeff, was “a great emblem for those wanting to make a better world.”

That Man and That Quote Again

It’s 1.34am and I’m lying awake in a hotel room in London after 20 hours of travelling, meetings and an enjoyable, if whirlwind, debate entitled ‘CSR: Myth or Reality‘. I was invited to sit on the panel with Tony Needham, Head of Finance and Business from the New Economics Foundation and Clare  Woodcraft, Deputy Director of the Shell Foundation, and offer an opinion on the event title, which provided an educational, occasionally provocative (as oil companies, even their charitable arm,  tend to be) and insightful discussion as we rapidly skirted across numerous major CSR topics in what felt like race at times.

My head still spinning from a long day and far too many cans of debating worms, my mistake lay in attempting to clear emails preparing for a second day crammed full of meetings introducing the wares of 3BL Media.

I should have known better than to read it. I knew it would wind me up. HE always does, or rather that infamous quote does. Any ideas who the man in the picture is or why he is keeping me awake?…

Green Business Blog Carnival #4

Hello to week #4 of the Green Business Blog Carnival, a fun fair of green business news travelling across the blogosphere helping to spread the good word.

Below you’ll find links to some great content on this week’s sustainable business related topics from respected bloggers.

Let’s get on with the show…

Hitting hard at the Test Your Strength is David Wheat Science In Action – Often debates about climate policy come down to ”My experts can beat up your experts”. This research shows that there are objective measurements that can reveal which experts are more expert, and therefore should be given more weight in guiding policy. (Not that policy is driven by experts–it’s politics.)

In the House of Mirrors is HaraBara Green – Big quantities are sometimes hard to grasp. When you hear that millions of gallons of crude are spilling in the Gulf, how much is that really? Professor James Corbett of the University of Delaware has done the math in a creative way. Your could drive your car for 100,000 years on gas made from the oil spilled so far.

Carrying his Goldfish is Jeff McIntire-Strasburg at Sustainablog – St. Louis-based Practecol just launched its line of “eco-frugal” products designed to help consumers save money and the planet.

3BL TV – new CSR & Sustainability video channel

The latest stage in the evolution of CSR and Sustainability communications is unleashed upon the world today…

3BL TV, the first online CSR TV channel has now been launched!

Head over to check out news, opinion, interviews and all the latest CSR and sustainability trends from great experts such as Chris Jarvis, Christine Arena, Elaine Cohen, Fabian Pattberg, oh, and yours truly (including new photo!).

The site is fresh out of the box today and already features Chris J’s CSR Unscripted report on corporate volunteering, Elaine’s ‘women washing’ and Christine’s interview with Gil Friend, and not forgetting Emily Polk’s daily CSR Minute round-up.

With new videos added daily 3BL TV is redefining the way responsible business communications is distributed and consumed

Send your friends to the new website and share the CSR dream team’s new adventure into video!