greenormal

Cop15 Videos/Campaigns

2009-10-22T06:40:00.000-07:00

Would be interesting to discuss these - a mix of promo videos, personal testimonies & some which are both - to see what's working for people & why?

...and speaking of 350 dont forget the International day of (photographing a '350' in a public place) Climate Action this Saturday http://www.350.org/

Legal Disclaimer

2009-10-20T15:55:00.000-07:00

I've been contributing a few posts to the green awards blog. Checking in on the site I just happened upon their legal disclaimer - it's an absolute thing of beauty. Placed next to the possibly naive feeling of freedom in blogging (except in China where a contact tells me Greenormal is blocked by censors) it strikes me as something like the old Swedish comedy show which featured a couple of guys roaring around in a Volvo that happened to be encased in a jumbo mattress. A thing of beauty anyway. (I get it, but cant help smiling at the need for it). Here it is....

Blog Disclaimer

The opinions expressed here are the opinions of the writer and are not the official position of the Green Awards. The information contained in this Blog is for general guidance on matters of interest only. The application and impact of laws can vary widely based on the specific facts involved. Given the changing nature of laws, rules and regulations, and the inherent hazards of electronic communication, there may be delays, omissions or inaccuracies in information contained in this Blog. Accordingly, the information on this Blog is provided with the understanding that the authors and publishers are not herein engaged in rendering legal, accounting, tax, environmental or any other professional advice and services. As such, it should not be used as a substitute for consultation with professional accounting, tax, legal, environmental or other competent advisers. All information in this Blog is provided "as is", with no guarantee of completeness, accuracy, timeliness or of the results obtained from the use of this information, and without warranty of any kind, express or implied, including, but not limited to warranties of performance, merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose. In no event will the Green Awards, its related partnerships, agents or employees thereof be liable to you or anyone else for any decision made or action taken in reliance on the information in this Site or for any consequential, special or similar damages, even if advised of the possibility of such damages.

New Article for Mediacat Magazine

2009-10-20T15:42:00.000-07:00

Climate Change – The Creative Brief

It is said that "the journey of a thousand miles begins with a step". Actually that isn't entirely true. As storytellers know the journey of a thousand miles begins with a need to be a thousand miles away. A murder. A loved one a continent away. Or a job transfer. But anyway a human necessity to get there.

The long awaited United Nations Climate Change Conference ‘COP15’ is approaching. The goal is to agree a framework to replace the Kyoto treaty so that nations can work together on averting man made global warming. This is a political matter. But after the targets are agreed (at Copenhagen or later) what then? I’ll argue actually that this then becomes a marketing issue - creating public and business movement to match the ambitious objectives. But as in any good brief let’s focus on the Why? before the How?

The COP15 coverage has focused upon the nation state politics. Can a deal be reached with India and China? Will America make real commitments? Is it fair for the developing nations to be asked to cut emissions? Should the richer nations who are responsible for the bulk of emissions bear the load? That is an inevitable consequence of staging a multi-nation event aimed at brokering a deal. But it’s also potentially the wrong frame. Climate change is not an issue (like trade) about the balance or deal struck. Climate change is like a dark wave rolling towards us – we need to link arms or all be swept away.

When people in my country imagine climate change (I know this because I’ve conducted focus groups on the subject) they see it was bringing hotter summers and milder winters, and at worst potentially some increased flooding. And they see these changes happening over 40-50 years. They know that the effects may be much more extreme for “poor farmers and polar bears”. But they are not exactly losing sleep over the issue.

What I think this picture misses is the extraordinary degree of volatility and interdependence in our globalised economic world order. It’s like looking at a human body and saying ‘what difference could just a few degrees higher make?'

In 2008 the price of oil, some poor harvests, demand for biofuels, a flight of investors into safe commodities… produced a global food crisis which according to the UN doubled the number of people going hungry, while halving their supply of food aid. Why? There was still enough food for everyone. But the price of food increased. In poor countries food can account for about 30% of household spending. Hence an alarming increase in the numbers who could no longer afford 3 meals a day.

Those are the kinds of emergent effects I think you need to imagine to ‘get’ the impact of climate change. Human societies are like the climate itself. I picture both systems having a ‘whip’ like effect. When the atmosphere gets a little more energy and humidity on average the knock on effects on storms, floods, droughts and so on are not gradual and linear, they are dramatic and destructive. And we know it's the same with economies don't we? The knock on effect of some dodgy American home loans being a near meltdown in the global economy, also in 2008.

Politicians understand this. This is why when the UK parliament was surveyed in 2006, all but one of the 315 MPs who answered said that climate change was THE single most important issue facing our generation. A position that has only been reinforced by the Stern Report which warned that a failure to invest 1-2% of GDP now could lead to a loss of up to 20% of global GDP later. We have lived through a profound global slump this year. But the GDP still rose (according to the IMF) by 0.5%. Imagine it fell 20%. So that in some countries it would fall 40, 60, 80%. The socioeconomic impacts would be unimaginable. A whole world out of work, public services at a standstill, a mass extinction in many business sectors (ironically except possibly oil?) Imagine the fall of Soviet communism then times it by ten.

When you see that this is how even relatively mild (2 degrees, IPCC) predictions of climate change would play out – pretty much like a 2 degree rise in our body temperature compared to normal functioning – you realise how hugely important it is that we find some solutions fast. The good news is that many such solutions already exist. But taken as a whole it’s a radical shift. It’s about more than changing energy sources. It’s about a total redesign of society. Especially when you consider the next most pressing issue after climate change is probably the end of the era of cheap oil. Then there is food, water, biodiversity... the list goes on. We are running out of world and running out of time.

This transition in business, government and throughout society cannot happen until there is (in Al Gore’s words) a climate for change. And this is the heart of the creative brief for climate change. Politicians may see the medium term risks. But the public absolutely do not. In a Pew poll in the USA in 2009 the US public ranked climate change 20th out of 20 priorities for their government to tackle. Why? Because it doesn’t really seem like such a big thing to worry about.

I am not advocating mass panic-inducing alarmism. It’s actually potentially an exciting phase in human history. One of people rising to a proper challenge and feeling part of an epic achievement. One where some of the other imbalances such as the global wealth gap may get addressed. We do have the solutions if we can change our worldview enough to seize them. And we also have human ingenuity, and enough necessity to fuel huge invention.

So the crux of the creative brief is this. How can we help people in very large numbers grasp the necessity of human change in response to climate change? How can we help people prioritise it?

People who ‘get’ that this is a priority don’t have to become eco saints. We will still have lives, loves, and all too human inconsistencies. But it is a straightforward thing to want a better life for our children, to have worked on things that matter in the longer term, to have each in our own little ways been a part of the history of our times. It is as one commentator said a ‘simple matter of self esteem’.

Ultimately this is a marketing challenge. And I hope you’ll feel inspired (if a little daunted) to know that post Cop15, or whenever the targets are set, the next challenge largely may be down to us!

Climate by Numbers

2009-10-15T01:51:00.000-07:00

Numbers are important in creating climates for change. Especially countdowns and the notion of approaching limits. For instance the Y2K bug meme persuaded governments and businesses to take urgent action because of a countdown to 00:00:00:2000. There was a common understanding that at this time, if urgent precautions were not taken, computer clocks resetting could trigger effects in critical applications such as hospitals, nuclear power stations, bank records.

350.org (as many readers will know) takes the view that the 'red line' of climate safety is 350ppm of CO2 in the atmosphere. This is the number put forward by James Hansen, Director of the NASA Godard Institute (although he also says we really have no idea if anything above pre-industrial levels is 'safe'). Hansen's view is that we are in imminent danger of triggering runaway climate change due to positive feedback effects; where warming produces effects leading to further heating: ie tipping points - one study from the Potsdam Institute pointed to nine of these potentially being triggered in the next century.

Slightly worryingly we passed 350ppm in 1987 or so. Some runaway climate change effects, such as that associated with methane clathrate release (marsh gas released from Siberian permofrost due to warming), have been claimed (in a recent study published in Nature) to have resulted in shifts of tens of degrees within decades in past geological eras. And there are some worrying signs on that front too.

All of which should be cause for URGENCY - the factor in human organisations (according to John Kotter's recent book) which gets things done. And 24th October is one chance to spread the word (or in fact the number - 350) as it's International Climate day of Action. Basically place the number 350 somewhere public, take a pic, and upload it to their site. And perhaps also chat to people around you about why you are doing this - spread the word. More details at http://www.350.org/

All part of the countdown to Cop15. But more importantly part of starting a tide of public opinion and motivation that can carry us beyond target setting to some urgent action. If you are busy on the 24th, are one of those I keep meeting who shy away from the more alarmist views on climate change, and/or want to commit to a sensible and serious series of personal actions next year then 10-10 is for you.

We Are One

2009-10-14T01:32:00.000-07:00

I'm not usually a huge fan of coffee table books but this one looks almost worth buying a (second hand or otherwise responsibly sourced) coffee table for! Here's some details from Jo Ede who created and edited this book & has been working with and filming indigenous peoples:

'We are One', the book on tribal peoples I have created and edited, is being published in the UK and Holland this Friday 16th October. It will be available in most bookshops nationwide.

We are One is a collection of previously unpublished statements from the world's tribal peoples, from the Yanomami of the Brazilian Amazon, to the semi-nomadic Penan of Malaysia and the Innu of Canada's sub-arctic tundra. These are supported by powerful essays photographs from authors, campaigners, politicians, philosophers, poets, artists, journalists, academics, anthropologists, environmentalists and illustrated by beautiful images by international photojournalists. We Are One celebrates the lives, homelands, rituals, languages, ideas and values of tribal peoples and explores the relevance of their wisdom to the present time. It is both a portrait of the beauty and diversity of tribal peoples, and a call to arms that examines many of the contemporary humanitarian and environmental issues inherent in their fight for survival - such as climate change.

Every single article, literary extract and photograph has been generously donated, in recognition of the 40th Anniversary of Survival International, the human rights' organisation that campaigns for tribal peoples (www.survivalinternational.org). All royalties from the sales of the book go to Survival International. We are One includes contributions and extracts from: Richard Gere, Zac Goldsmith, Colin Firth, Bruce Parry, Jane Goodall, Joanna Lumley, Robin Hanbury-Tenison, Damien Hirst, Satish Kumar, Tony Juniper, Colin Samson, Jonathan Porritt, Vandana Shiva, Kari Herbert, Sydney Possuelo, Carlo Petrini, Wade Davis, Arundhati Roy, A.C. Grayling, Roy Sesana, Laurens van der Post, Doris Pilkington-Garimara, Eduardo Galeano, Robin Hanbury-Tenison and many others. Photographs by: Sebastiao Salgado, Mike Goldwater, Steve McCurry, Mirella Ricciardi, Carol Beckwith, Yann-Arthus Bertrand, Tim Allen, Claudia Andujar and others.

For further information, please either contact Jo Ede on (+44 (0) 7721 093067, (j.eede@virgin.net or je@survivalinternational.org) or Miriam Ross at Survival International on (+44) (0)20 7687 8734 ( mr@survival-international.org)

Draft Article for Sublime: Hope Issue

2009-10-10T01:03:00.000-07:00

Dystopia? Utopia? Myopia? (Wetopia?)

When you imagine life in the year 2030 what do you see?

A. Dystopia? Climate change, peak oil, biodiversity, food, water, ecosystems collapse, tipping points: “A perfect storm by 2030” according to the UK chief scientist, Sir John Beddington: Or “A global Somalia” according to James Lovelock: Hell and high water, either way.

B. Utopia? A low carbon society will mean flourishing, elegant, harmonious, low carbon cities – with wonderful air quality, green spaces, cycle ways and free electric transits, mixed use campus-style neighbourhoods. Children, cats and handcarts loaded with fresh produce chase each other up grassy streets, while adults stroll between work places, symposia and city farms.

C. Myopia? 2030 is only 20 years away. Things will change but life will go on. There will be cars (now electric), supermarkets, offices, homes. Many of them still using today’s buildings. Some things will look advanced and some retro – just as if we’d peered ahead from 1990 to today we’d have been struck both by the iPhone and the number of cyclists.

D. All of the above? (But strangely reconfigured).

Any of A, B or C on their own are imbalanced (which would you choose – depression, mania or neurosis?) I am going to argue for D. I call this more panoptic viewpoint Wetopia; as the important shift could be from excessive ‘everyone for themselves’ competition to more joined up co-operation.

I agree with A that there is no change until denial is overcome. I agree with the B that there is no motivation without hope. I agree with C that the extremist views (A or B) largely go over the heads of most people. But that’s why we need a mix of all three. And we need to take them as ingredients for a recipe that is wholly new and strangely reconfigured. Because we need to adjust well to a fast-changing set of realities.

The either/or arguments that break out when these positions hit policy makers are so draining:
A. We MUST help the public understand the chasm of risk.
B. We MUST sell the public the dream of a better quality of life.
C. We MUST reassure the public that it’s not the end of the world.
With the three views pressed vehemently in every meeting on climate change, it’s no wonder decision-making becomes paralysed?

These are the wrong MUSTS. They assume a ‘public’ rather than a global village of fellow human beings. They assume propaganda, mass psychology, manipulation and spin… where conversation could be. They assume passive consumers, voters, viewers (who need to be sold a problem, a solution or a status quo)... where citizens could be. A citizen being defined as one who takes responsibility for the common good.

What’s missing from public engagement with the risks we face is a lack of citizenship. It’s not that people haven’t seen the melting icecaps, forest fires, floods on TV. They just don’t have a way to take any of this in and respond. Society is figured as a malfunctioning machine and they don’t know how to tinker with it – or even know that they could. I can’t think of any way through this except a return to participative democracy. Something that seems underway already; the democracy 2.0 of #iranelections, myobama.org, moveon.org and we20.org; the transparent scrutiny applied to policing, corporate human rights and MPs’ expenses.

Where eco-techno utopian fantasies fall short is they portray only the ‘lifestyle’ surfaces of society. This is still nuclear age thinking; complete with futuristic gadgets, energy and cars. They are hence less utopias; more product catalogues. Great if you sell cycles, solar panels or electric cars. And lovely stuff - I’m all in favour of all of this. But arguably these artefacts are about as pivotal as the props in a Shakespeare play. To be optimistic about a better quality of life, shouldn’t we rather be looking at new human systems; looking forward for instance to a more co-operative economy? With short working weeks, mutual company ownership, communal facilities, radical re-localisation of food, manufacture… everything geared to maximise wellbeing? Most utopias were radical plans for social equity. Plans like the Diggers of 1649 (if enough people joined self-sufficient food-growing communities the aristocracy would follow suit for lack of anyone to grow their food). Plans like the Rochdale Pioneers of 1844 (co-operative shops as stepping stones towards new “colonies” based on co-operation).

It’s the same obsession with surface that limits the myopic view. Yes we will likely re-use current buildings. But that doesn’t mean we will use them in the same way. St Luke’s (a company I co-founded in the 1990s) was an employee owned co-operative. We moved into an office, which had already been fitted out by a conventional company. But we just used it differently – turning what would have been directors offices into project rooms, an open floor into a library. It’s the configuration of social relationships that is plastic and subject to rapid change. It might take 200 years to replace our housing stock. But we could see the molecular (communal) household replace the nuclear household in a few decades?

Wetopia isn’t that new an idea. A version of this shift from hierarchy to co-operation has been the core idea in most of the alternative visions put forward over the last 500 years. It’s what Ghandhi meant by Swaraj or ‘self rule’: Meaning not a top-down India Congress (as proposed by Nehru) to replace the British Raj: But rather government that welled up from villages, people and ultimately the Hindu concept of Self as seat of moral certainty.

Not a new idea then, but to quote Ghandi again – when asked what he thought of Western Civilisation – “I think would be a very good idea!”

John Grant’s new book Coopportunity (Wiley) is out in January 2010.

Sublime Magazine Article (Art & Philosophy Issue)

2009-10-10T00:58:00.000-07:00

The Original Copy

A security guard at the Tate Modern gallery came over to ask me politely but firmly to stop taking pictures. The irony being that I was photographing No Ghost Just a Shell initiated by Pierre Hyghe and Philippe Parreno, an artwork exploring the subject of replication and intellectual copyrights. They had purchased the copyright for the image of Annlee, a Japanese anime figure (from Ghost in the Shell) and invited artists to use the image free of charge in their own video creations.

All life is based upon reproduction. But life’s idea of copying is far from (only) mechanical. For a start there is a wisdom in the fact we descend from several parents rather than being cloned. And also in that every cell in your body may have the same dna, but they are fabulously diverse in both their specialized functioning and interrelationship. In living systems, copying is just one part of the broader webs of emergence, adaptation, growth, interdependence, self-repair and so on. The simplest thing to say about this is that life is not mechanical. It is something else than that.

Life’s copying began with our molecular progenitors in a primordial soup and has been rushing ever since onwards and upwards, asymptotically towards us - and also presumably past us to some destination unknown. But if it was only copying life would be static, always forever the same. Instead it is a living process of both replication and ramification; in constant conversation with the ecosystem. And it is always evolving, mutating, re-shaping. This works because of imperfection, variation and chance. Through this a dance of intricately connected life-forms emerges. A caterpillar ‘learns’ (through selection of those who evolve this behaviour) to hang by a thread to avoid predators on plant stems. A species of wasp ‘learns’ to climb down this thread to inject its eggs into the caterpillar. Another species of wasp observing this scene ‘learned’ to reel in the thread and add its own eggs – whence its larvae will feed on the other wasp’s larvae that feed on the caterpillar. It’s horrifying from one point of view, but a miracle of co-design from another.

Let’s call the alternative to this living, evolving form of copying: ‘dead copying’. Dead copying is mechanistic and dead to its surroundings. It is death as in statis – no further change being possible. It is dead as in plastic bags, just sitting almost immutable in landfill. Dead copying is monoculture wheat fields, loss of biodiversity, rows of identical plastic toys, genetic modification, nanotech, pesticides, learning by rote, sterile digital media recording… Dead copying is the perfect opposite and enemy of life. Most environmental problems have something to do with this: society as machine, people and nature as economic parts. Dead copying even strips time of its significance, each moment in a climate controlled mall being the same as the next (it’s always ‘Christmas’ – and hence never inwardly that festive?) Malls, car journeys and whole cityscapes rob us of the the rain on our faces and daily experiences that root us physically in the living world. A development the slow movement are encouraging us to turn back from. Still living in cities, but savouring life, local and seasonal foods, passing pleasures.

In psychological terms dead copying is the enemy of feeling alive. Subjectivity is lost as our experiences and thoughts become alien to us - as if mechanical parts. We do have a replicating culture of artifacts, manners, idioms, writings and styles. But this reproduction is part of a living system - kept alive through human identification and subjectivity. Stone Age people making successive daubs on cave walls would not simply be copying. But rather re-experiencing; identifying with both the other and also their subject – a deer or bison, perhaps. Their copying was ritual participation, through an animistic worldview - whereby your own subjectivity was constantly mingling with others’ – that of your ancestors, prey animals, even the stones. That’s our inheritance too, something the school of phenomenology attempted to recover. When we encounter another person – or indeed any sentient being – we imaginatively identify with them, through a process of inward and even muscular mimicry. What might it be like to be you? Psychoanalysts say that we discover our own identity through these identifications with the other. But to identify is not to become identical. Each such identification is subtly different. Two people watching someone riding a bicycle will not have the same subjective response. One for instance who had been involved in a past accident, might watch with unfolding horror as a car approached the bicycle at a junction. Another might be drawn into a reverie based on the big red bike they got as a 7th birthday present.

Postmodernism was the artistic and philosophical climax of a reaction to and against this mechanistic trend. It was fundamentally about recovering subjectivity, even within a world of mechanical reproduction. I say ‘was’ because it seems we may be moving past this. Towards something like a new folk culture. Partly through a dawning awareness of the damage done by our split with nature (and human nature and community). It’s not all about slow food and handiworks either. Folk culture is flourishing in web 2.0 where self made media and the ability to share good content bypass the old media pyramid schemes, that replicated content to make money. That is for me, as one subjective observer, the implication of No Ghost Just a Shell. It is actually about reanimation; a coming back to life.

New Article for Medicat Magazine

2009-09-23T16:38:00.000-07:00

LOYALTY

You’ve been inundated with ways that marketing can help sustainability, not least by your humble columnist here. But have you stopped to think about how sustainability could transform your marketing for the better too?

Most marketers I have ever come across think it is their job to be recruiting new customers. It may say in their targets that they need to increase brand share, profitability and so on. But what they have in their minds when they see these tasks is getting customers in through the door. What other reason would you use advertising media for after all? If you wanted only to reach your existing customer you could advertise on pack, in branch or through a beautifully designed newsletter or something like that.

For the customer the experience is rather like being married to someone who is out every night chatting up other women. Or seeing a friend at a party, but she keeps looking over your shoulder to see if there is somebody more important or interesting there? Anyway you get my point – it’s slightly annoying apart from anything else?

When you scratch the surface of most markets you find that, conversely most of the money is made through loyal customers.

UK banks have recently woken up to this fact and started charging cheaper rates to existing customers. They have said publicly that this is because known customers are a better credit risk. Even the ones who do get into credit problems tend to pay off their bank first and companies they have no other relationships with last. But that is not the whole story. I interviewed some bank marketing directors for a report a few years ago. One of them told me that they had calculated that 90% of their profit came from the 6% of their customers who bought 2 or more products from them. Firstly the 6% is incredibly low, it’s almost like the customer is ruling out existing providers because they sensed they would get ripped off if they didn’t shop around. Secondly it should put an incredibly high value on loyalty. Every 1% they could add to the "2+ products club" would create huge financial returns. Plus the benefits of more predictable, less price-war dependent income streams.

The bad news for the banks is that people think of them as ‘all the same’. You know why? Because they are in fact all the same. At the height of the housing boom there were mortgages available from over 8000 providers. And only a couple of these (like Virgin’s “Offset” mortage product) were anty different to any other, except on price.

There is one exception though; the Co-operative Bank. They are a past client of mine so I’m not in a perfect position to judge. But that goes for five other banks and it’s not like I buy lots of financial products from those too. But I buy two or three products off the Co-operative every year – travel insurance, car insurance, the sorts of things where I could shop around for the best price but instead I go to the Co-op. Why? As their advertising campaign says they are “Good with money”. Specifically they have really tough sustainability standards, which they apply to all their investments and other commercial relationships. They do lots inside their own company, for instance with renewable energy and staff volunteering. And they do lots for the ‘sector’ too – for instance as a writer I rely on their annual reports into the UK Ethical Consumer.

I’m not sure if they sent me a letter asking me to donate to their company I would. They are still a bank, still have shareholders and so on. But I am very happy to buy things off them at an okay price, rather than shop around for whoever is the absolute cheapest. It affects how I expect to be treated by them too – if I ever have an insurance claim to be settled. Anyway my experience so far is that their people are pretty nice on the phone. Working with them as a client I found quite a few people had gone to work for them for similar sorts of reasons – "okay it’s a job in a bank, but at least they are doing some good too". The Co-operative Bank has been doing really well commercially during the banking crises of the last year. They have stood out as one company people could trust, on all sorts of levels. And in classic brand terms they are simply differentiated. All the other banks are ‘blue’ and they are ‘green’.

There was a ton of other stuff I wanted to do with them as my client to make loyalty (not recruitment) their key marketing objective. Like customer-help-customer schemes. And promotions where you club together with others in your local community to do something good for the area. But once you’ve decided to be about sustainability you have lots of such options, and not just in the traditional ‘green consumer’ niche either.

The moral of this little story? When you look at sustainability through the old marketing lens of projecting an image to attract new customers it looks either weak, or like a recipe for greenwash. But the more you look at sustainability through a customer loyalty lens, the more sense it makes for your business. As well as saving some of what’s left of this fragile planet for our grandchildren, which is of course worth giving a thought to too!

UK Bookseller Marketing Award - Guess the Winner

2009-09-17T09:31:00.001-07:00

I'm presenting this award tonight and it's actually a fantastic shortlist - as you'll see from the shortlist below. I've no idea who has won. Tweet @greenormal with your guesses before around 9pm and I'll give someone who gets it right a collectors edition Green Marketing Manifesto (I've got one where the cover is upside down - a bit like a misprinted penny black?)

Amazon.co.uk, Amazon Vine

The Torbay Bookshop, Independent Booksellers Week

W H Smith,
Christmas Books Campaign 2008

Waterstone's,
The Waterstone's Card

Borders,
Where's Wally on Google Earth

Blackwell,
Espresso Book Machine Launch

Tweehive is Live Today

2009-09-05T01:29:00.000-07:00

Join us on twitter or down at Pestival at the Southbank

Co-opportunity: What's the best subtitle?

2009-08-24T02:14:00.001-07:00

We're stuck - having agreed the title six months ago my publisher & I cant quite decide which subtitle to go with. So here's a poll to help us decide. Please vote on your favourite subtitle or add a suggestion of your own. Of course it could help if you know what the book is about - samples for download and blogposts on this at PSFK who are hosting my draft for comments. But Wiley & I are interested in what grabs you - what would have a 'must read' factor - so feel free to vote on gut feel too :J

NB If poll doesnt display here go to polldaddy site

What's the best subtitle for John Grant's book: CO-OPPORTUNITY?(polls)

ps do note any 'other' suggestions and comments here on the blog too (the qualitative side of the poll)

Co-opportunity - coming soon on PSFK

2009-08-07T14:51:00.000-07:00

The lovely people at PSFK.com are hosting a serialised sharing of the draft of my new book Co-opportunity, from next week. Do check in regularly (as each section will only be available for download for a short while) read at your leisure and feed me comments at PSFK to make it better. It's all about co-operation for a better world, so we needed to work on this together! :J

ps if you do miss a section or two email me (the address is in 'about section' and I should be able to sort you out

Miriam Elia (Tweehive guest queen)'s bee day

2009-08-07T12:38:00.000-07:00

#Tweehive2

2009-08-04T12:53:00.001-07:00

It's that time of the month again. On friday (7th) a bunch of us are going to pretend to be bees again on twitter. Do come and check it out http://www.tweehive.com/ join the facebook group or simply follow @tweehive and the #tweehive stream on twitter

The U-bend Recession & Organic Green Shoots

2009-07-29T06:49:00.000-07:00

Recent news on UK economic indicators show that after a very brief flurry of back to growth as usual optimism, we are now settled on a long flat (steady state) type of curve. This means that those pundits pushing the W-curve, V-curve and L-curve alternatives missed another possibility now emerging; the u-bend recession!

On a much more positive note, after all the doom & gloom reporting on people abandoning ethical produce...
(via http://fruitnet.com)
The UK retail giant has reported an upsurge in sales of premium, organic and Fairtrade foods According to the latest sales data from Tesco, UK consumers are beginning to return to premium and ethical food ranges, which the retailer says is “one of the clearest signals yet that consumers are feeling more confident about their own household finances”. Tesco revealed that its Finest, organics and Fairtrade ranges were all returning to growth in the UK after it reviewed its range and introduced better offers. Fairtrade produce has since increased by 15 per cent in the last year, while organic produce is up 52 per cent since November, the retailer said. Senior marketing manager Stephanie Stewart commented: “While it’s too early to say that we are seeing the green shoots of recovery from the recession, rising demand for our ethical and premium food brands are offering optimistic signs.”

My own reading of this is that rumours of the demise of principled consumerism were grossly overstated (and mostly due to panic price promoting of 'budget' ie cheap crap alternatives). Organic certainly seemed to drop about 20% both in stores and also boxed veg delivery in last year or two. Fairtrade actually grew about 100% in the last two years and with Cadbury and Starbucks coming on board will probably double again in the next 12 months. Anyway with the oh-my-god-the-banks-are-collapsing Shock Doctrine economic hype over (always perhaps only to justify a bailout that exceeded the repayment burden of WWII) people are perhaps just getting back on with life? A steady state economy of course is a sustainability holy grail, although as Herman Daly says that's not the same thing as a failed (or stalled) growth economy.

Walmart Sustainability Index

2009-07-17T03:00:00.000-07:00

(via Huffington Post - announced yesterday)

The giant retailer ($406 billion in revenues in 2008) is developing an ambitious, comprehensive, and fiendishly complex plan to measure the sustainability of every product it sells. Wal-Mart has been working quietly on what it calls a "sustainability index" for more than a year, and it will take another year or two for labels to appear on products. But the company's grand plan-"audacious beyond words" is how one insider describes it-has the potential to transform retailing by requiring manufacturers of consumer products to dig deep into their supply chains, measure their environmental impact, and compete on those terms for favorable treatment from the world's most powerful retailer.

#TWEEHIVE - day 1: Tuesday 14th July 09

2009-07-13T10:35:00.000-07:00

Greetings fellow bees. Here is a very quick guide for those who want to get stuck into #TWEEHIVE

WHAT: let's all pretend to be bees on twitter for the day

WHY: raise awareness of the plight of the bees, we're doing this as part of http://pestival.org and also just to have some new media fun

HOW
full details at http://www.tweehive.com

But here's a quick guide... - please feel free to repost on your blog
1. change your profile pic to a bee for the day
If feeling lazy the pic at the top of this post is the right size & dimensions for twitterpic
2. check the #tweehive stream, interact with other bees & generally enjoy the buzz
if new to twitter that just means put "#tweehive" into the search box
3. follow @tweehive - there will be guest queen bees including Alison Benjamin
if new to twitter that just means put "tweehive" into the find people search box (top menu) & click "follow"
4. Get into character. what would your bee be doing through the day?
For inspiration http://www.tweehive.com/to-bee-or-what-to-bee
when tweeting remember to write #tweehive to appear in the stream
also remember you can message other specific bees by using @twittername in your tweet
5. Join in the treasure hunt for flowers hidden on bee friendly and tweehive related websites
HINT these are lusicious floating flower picture hidden placed at the bottom of the page
6. It's never too late to swarm - do tell all your likeminded friends
An easy way to do that of course now is simply taking part
7. If you have a relevant website/blog do register to host a flower for other bees to find
http://www.tweehive.com/potting-shed
8. Watch out for on the spot tasks and other Tweehive surprises...

See you in the #TWEEHIVE

must buzz

:J

More Thought Leadership from Tom Crompton

2009-07-07T02:08:00.000-07:00

http://www.identitycampaigning.org

Tom at WWF (many blog readers will have seen & hotly debated Weathercocks and Signposts) has a whole new thoughtpiece, direction, book and web forum all about the need to engage with identity campaigning. the blog features lots of my other favourite thinkers on transition culture including julespeck

----

HERE'S TOM'S OWN BLURB

Identitycampaigning.org aims to promote debate on whether it will be
possible to meet today’s global challenges without engaging the ways
in which human identity and social values are shaped. A large part of
the mainstream environment movement – and civil society more generally
– seems to have been persuaded that to engage aspects of identity or
social values is a futile effort, that these things are essentially
immutable, and that the best that can be hoped for is to achieve
incremental change by appealing to existing aspects of identity. This is
a self-reinforcing and defeatist perspective that should change. No
successful political programme would work under this self-imposed
constraint, and nor should civil society.

Identitycampaigning explores the ways in which identity and values can be engaged. These include:

(1) An understanding of the way in which people's EXPERIENCE of
government policy shapes values (afterall, Margaret Thatcher famously
said: "it isn’t that I set out on economic policies; it’s that I set
out really to change the approach, and changing the economics is the
means of changing that approach. If you change the approach you really
are after the heart and soul of the nation. Economics are the method;
the object is to change the heart and soul.").

(2) Closely related to this, the way in which certain policies have a
profound impact on our identities as a result of their 'material'
effects (for example, the way we decide, collectively, to regulate
commercial marketing (for example, Sweden has banned commercial
advertising to children under 12 and this may have an impact on the
prevalence of a set of materialistic values).

(3) Exploring routes to identity change amongst individuals (for
example, through the 'heart and soul' work that Transition does). This
doesn't represent a panacea (we need social and political structures
that legitimise and support changes in values at an individual level):
but it is important - perhaps necessary? - if we are to create space for
such contextual changes.

If these are issues that matter to you - either because you share the
frustration outlined above, or profoundly disagree, please visit
identitycampaigning.org and join the debate. Occasional visitors can
post their thoughts as comments - those who feel more committed to
engaging this debate might want to be listed as contributors (in which
case, please contact Tom Crompton, at tcrompton@wwf.org.uk).

Inspired on all counts

2009-07-06T13:35:00.000-07:00

I actually really love one of the comments made following Leonora's report on Treehugger so I'll just repeat it here

"Congratulations Michael, not so much for demolishing Lomborg's skeptical arguments so eloquently, but for focusing even more on the opportunities arising from the very threats we face. How much more satisfying to invest time and energy in seeking solutions, for people to live happy and healthy lives within the carrying capacity of the Earth, than to scavenge opportunistically in the market of media counter-point, looking for reasons to do nothing." (Paul King)

Supporting Green Independent Natural Thinking

2009-07-02T12:35:00.000-07:00

Met with Dr Nicola Thomas today aka The GIN Lady. (GIN = Green Independent Natural: a lovely ethical lifestyle magazine & blog if you dont know it do check it out). And I got a copy of her PhD to read (not the following sentence most often associated with encounters with the media) which is partly about the potential to communicate ecosystems science to change behaviour. Anyway I can already see that it's packed with really clever insights and models, but was also reminded of the power of a simple framing fact - as demonstrated by this cute ad for Save the Shark (via Treehugger).

Tweehive

2009-06-26T10:13:00.000-07:00

The 'let's all role play being a bee colony on Twitter for a day' project I've been working on with a whole bunch of fellow sustainability/new media/bee-interested folks went live today. Do come and join the fun http://www.tweehive.com and the tweehive FB group It's part of http://pestival.org an insect arts ecology event at London's South Bank

Shame on Boots

2009-06-20T03:27:00.001-07:00

A few years ago I was trying to get an event together about the ethical and environmental impact of private equity. On the positive side are groups like Generation who plan to use this mechanism to go further than any shareholder would allow in retrofitting major corporations for a low carbon economy. But on the negative side are the greedy bastards, pushing management to do anything to hype maximum short term growth so that their returns on equity (leveraged by bank debt) go sky high. The groups who I approached to host this event worried that since private equity firms are the dictatorships of business, no-one would dare speak out against them, certainly not as insider, but probably not in the media and consultancy realms either.

All of which is context for the announcement that Boots, a former quaker family business and always a benevolent presence on the high street, but now under private equity ownership has quit the Ethical Trading Initiative; a scheme set up after the wave of sweatshop and worker exploitation scandals in the 1990s, whereby most of the major UK retailers for instance guaranteed to only work with suppliers that pay at least the minimum wage.

Dan Rees, director of the ETI, said to The Guardian: "We are deeply disappointed that Boots have taken this decision, particularly at such a crucial time for the world's most vulnerable workers, who are bearing the brunt of the global downturn. The days when high-profile businesses could consider ethical trade as an optional extra are now gone. In our view, it is not the right time for major brands to be rolling back their commitments on labour standards, nor does it make good business sense."

Draft Article for Mediacat (Turkey)

2009-06-18T23:26:00.000-07:00

Nokia: The Power Of We

When recently researching what brands have been up to in the two years since I wrote The Green Marketing Manifesto, I was particularly impressed with Nokia.

Firstly, being green is not just a marketing matter. Either a company is committed to it and leading the way, or it is not. One of the reasons I chose to look into Nokia is I already knew about their “Power of We” programme that started with internal change, as a judge at last year’s Green Awards, where Nokia won the overall Grand Prix.

Here’s what their CEO Olli-Pekka Kallasvio says on the subject of sustainability:
“Thousands of Nokia people have made sustainable, environmentally sensitive practices an integral part of our day to day business. With more than a billion people using Nokia phones globally, we feel we have a responsibility to make a difference. Even in these tough economic times, environmental sustainability is not just the right thing to do, it is the only thing to do and makes good business sense.”

If you look into what Nokia are doing as a company you will find all the usual good stuff; like dramatically reducing their energy and waste. The company set targets for CO2 emissions since 2006 and they report publicly how they are doing on reducing their footprint. Their phones are certified as free of conflict metals, such as tantalum from the Congo (whereas with some other phones you are basically paying to arm soldiers or rebels). Nokia has consistently been named the number one electronics brand in Greenpeace’s Greener Electronics Guide. And it has won the phone industry (GSMA) first CEO Award for Outstanding Environmental Contribution.

Given all of this it’s pretty impressive that Nokia have not been shouting about their green credentials in advertising. Rather than claiming green they have been doing green. For instance in basic initiatives like encouraging people to unplug their charger (in some popular models Nokia also fitted a ‘finished charging’ alert) and putting recycling collection points into retail, including a major new push in India this year.

Sustainability isn’t only about energy and carbon. Mobile phones have been playing a leading role in African development projects. And Nokia have been in there since 2005 working with Grameen, founded by Nobel Prize winner Mohammed Yunus, helping to ensure they can build an accessible mobile network in countries like Rwanda.

Mobile applications have been big news in the last few years and Nokia has been behind some nice green apps. Green Explorer hives you green travel tips and helps you locate local green services. Freecycle is a 6.5 million member web phenomenon whereby if you are about to through something away, you can give it to someone else instead. Nokia just helped them provide the same service on mobile. They have also introduced a home management system (currently being trialled) using the mobile to monitor and control your home energy along with a host of other smart home functions.

We also live in the age of the social network. Nokia have for some time operated a partnership with the WWF and IUCN in the connect2earth community site, on the web as well as mobile. Here you can learn about environmental issues, exchange ideas and content like video and ask experts about key themes and actions.

Like many of the smartest corporations, Nokia has been embracing open innovation where instead of assuming they have all the answers they brief ‘the world’ to come up with solutions too. They held a $150,000 prize challenge for phone apps which could ‘improve life on this planet’. Just one example of what came out of this was an Green Phone app to manage all the settings on your phone to minimize its power use.

As far as green phones go, the Nokia Evolve is one of the best around, in energy, materials and so on. But Nokia have also been experimenting with some more advanced concepts, which are also highly appealing if you are a bit of a tree hugger. Like the Remade concept (made out of old tin cans and all sorts of other waste material) Or another concept phone where the case is made from reclaimed wood.

Nokia recently gave a glimpse as well of some of the innovation programmes they are working on: ways to make chargers use zero power except when the phone needs it; and developing ways for people to upgrade phones digitally rather than buying new devices. The most fascinating and high tech was that their researchers may have found a way to do away with the phone charger already. Instead the phones can draw waste power from ambient electromagnetic radiation (like Wifi and TV signals) – a trickle but enough to keep a phone topped up. It’s a good example of a green benefit, which is also just a great consumer proposition; you will never need to remember to charge a phone again.

Why I like Nokia’s efforts is that firstly they have got the basics right. Despite being the biggest they are also by far the greenest. And they have got this good by helping every employee see this as a central part of their job, not an add on. Their focus externally is on innovation, education, community and great green utilities. And they are not too proud to partner, getting many of their best ideas from outside inventors, NGOs and consumers. Of course they are not perfect, they are still a big business with a huge impact and still a little too addicted to the business model where we treat phones as throwaway fashion. But given where we are starting from they are making big steps in the right direction.

(Declaration of Interest: I don’t currently work for Nokia – I think the last time they paid me for any advice was 2001 – I just think they are doing a pretty good job without me).

All the news that's fit to print

2009-06-18T15:21:00.001-07:00

A christmas future we'd all wish for, from the Yes Men and Greenpeace
Via 350.org

United We Serve (launched yesterday)

2009-06-18T15:14:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Obama for simply 'doing it again' and @planetheart for tweeting it on :J