http://maydayblog.com Brendan May, founder of the Robertsbridge Group, on the planetary emergency, business and the environment posterous.com Thu, 16 Feb 2012 09:37:00 -0800 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/MaydayMaydayMayday/~3/k0q5LGygG8Q/update-on-asia-pulp-paper-app http://maydayblog.com/update-on-asia-pulp-paper-app <p> <p><span>It&rsquo;s now over six months since my &lsquo;Frank and Open Letter to Asia Pulp and Paper&rsquo; (see <a href="http://tiny.cc/75law">http://tiny.cc/75law</a> ) Regular readers may recall this was rather heavily tweeted around the ether and seemed to acquire a life all of its own for a couple of weeks. It was greatly assisted on its travels by retweets from global NGOs with large followings, not to mention a certain @stephenfry.&nbsp; This was never my intention (in fact I was stunned by the reaction), but I hoped it might make a change for APP to get a reality check from someone other than the traditional messengers in the form of Greenpeace, WWF and the usual suspects.</span></p> <p>I am often asked whether it made any difference. In a word? No.</p> <p>In my open letter I suggested APP abandon its absurd and inflammatory greenwashing communications strategy.&nbsp; The company has responded by adding a polluting feed to the usually sincere green Twitter community - @AsiaPulpPaper. Do follow it, purely for its comic value. The APP Twitter feed&rsquo;s existence mainly involves tweeting other sites&rsquo; green stories. A recent favourite: &lsquo;What is your sustainability strategy?&rsquo;, rehashing a blog that had nothing whatever to do with APP.&nbsp; Cue lots of messages back to APP along the lines of 'What's yours?' Brilliant.&nbsp;</p> <p>Other tweets implore people to recycle and urge people to retweet if they agree. It&rsquo;s like a cross between Yoko Ono and Kafka, if such a thing is possible to imagine. Surreal, grotesque, idiotic, counter-productive. The feed follows two users, the company&rsquo;s head of &lsquo;sustainability&rsquo;, and PEFC, the eco label APP likes to misuse. Hopeless drivel.&nbsp;</p> <p>There has been no let up in the advertising (although mercifully there currently seems to be a slight lull in the campaign, no doubt due to budgetary constraints not deliberate silence). But travel the world long enough and up will pop APP, lecturing you about biodiversity (yes, really), tiger conservation (most amusing) and the like. On it goes. One wonders where they are getting the money to pay for it all. It isn&rsquo;t from customers.</p> <p>There has been no progress with any credible NGOs. In fact the reverse is the case. This is not surprising, but deeply disappointing. The company is not willing to embrace the serious conservation measures required to bring people back to its table. The longer this continues, the less likely any reconciliation will be. Bad news for APP, worse for rainforests.</p> <p>There's a very good summary of APP's certification claims here if you need more information:&nbsp;<a href="http://tiny.cc/pakql">http://tiny.cc/pakql</a></p> <p>On the plus side, many more customers have deserted APP as a supplier. WWF has recently done some excellent work on this front and it seems the United States has become the latest country to reject APP in droves. If APP won&rsquo;t improve, then this is the unfortunate consequence. You'd think they'd learn.&nbsp;</p> <p>The circle of advisors who know as much about sustainability as I do about post Soviet Latvian pottery continue with their dismal efforts to &lsquo;help&rsquo; APP&rsquo;s reputation. I think the results speak for themselves. I do hope APP isn&rsquo;t spending too much cash on all this; it really is money down the drain and might be better spent on some form of business model change.</p> <p>I wish I had better news to report. Another six months, perhaps? Don&rsquo;t hold your breath. If anything, things have got worse. That&rsquo;s quite an achievement in itself, I suppose. In the meantime, all we can do is keep up the pressure. It usually works in the end. But time is running out for Indonesia's forests.&nbsp;</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> </p> <p><a href="http://maydayblog.com/update-on-asia-pulp-paper-app">Permalink</a> | <a href="http://maydayblog.com/update-on-asia-pulp-paper-app#comment">Leave a comment&nbsp;&nbsp;&raquo;</a> </p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/MaydayMaydayMayday/~4/k0q5LGygG8Q" height="1" width="1"/> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/379244/BM_picture_Tanzania.jpg http://posterous.com/users/3snDk59BptVT Brendan May Brendan Brendan May http://maydayblog.com/update-on-asia-pulp-paper-app Fri, 10 Feb 2012 07:15:00 -0800 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/MaydayMaydayMayday/~3/x-R87w00Daw/more-on-the-marine-stewardship-council-credib http://maydayblog.com/more-on-the-marine-stewardship-council-credib <p> <p><span>Struck by the response to my last post on one of the Marine Stewardship Council&rsquo;s most prized flagships, Alaska salmon, to pull out of the scheme, &nbsp;(see <a href="http://tiny.cc/qaklj">http://tiny.cc/qaklj</a> ) I thought it would be worth expanding a little on some of the points I raised. Some have suggested that the MSC needs more robust governance, not less. I disagree, which may surprise some people given that since my last post, the MSC has ignored protests from environmental groups and moved ahead with its proposed certification of the Canadian longline swordfish fishery. This despite accusations that it kills up to 500 endangered sea turtles a year, not to mention catching two sharks for each swordfish caught. Not great news for ecosystem diversity, some say. I must confess to being relieved I&rsquo;m not having to defend this particular fishery. </span></p> <p>We are now in the bizarre position where Alaska salmon (highly rated on all &lsquo;fish to buy&rsquo; lists such as the Marine Conservation Society, Monterey Bay Aquarium&rsquo;s SeafoodWatch et al) has chosen to abandon the MSC system, whilst a fishery that would barely pass the smell test of even moderate conservationists let alone hard greens will soon bear the MSC label.</p> <p>Some would argue I am trying to have it both ways. On the one hand I say that the MSC has become too cumbersome and bureaucratic, leading to the departure of a good fishery that meets its criteria. On the other,&nbsp; I find myself in sympathy with those who think that a fishery with a decent-sized bycatch of sharks and turtles at least deserves a formal objections process of the kind offered by the MSC governance system but bizarrely denied to the coalition of marine groups campaigning against the swordfish decision. A cynic would say the decision not to grant the swordfish objection was a calculated response to deter other fisheries from following Alaska salmon to the exit gate. I do not believe this, but I am genuinely surprised no objection was granted, given the issues involved. As an architect of both the governance system and its objections process, I thought it was designed precisely for this purpose.&nbsp;</p> <p>This tension between lighter touch governance and conservation integrity is inherent in the nature of any multistakeholder initiative. But it doesn't have to be. You don't have to be a vast bureaucracy to have integrity. Indeed, some of the largest bureaucracies in the NGO world have the least integrity. One of the MSC's founders once said to me, &lsquo;The problem with being middle of the road is you just sit there with all the other roadkill&rsquo;. Too true. But I cannot recall a time when the organisation pleased so few people at one time, which is saying something as I pleased virtually no-one when I was in charge until I resigned. Does anyone think this is working well 8 years on?</p> <p>Here&rsquo;s a summary of the problem as I see it:</p> <p><span style="">1. Faced with a choice between Alaska salmon (generally sustainable and well managed) </span><em style="">without </em><span style="">an MSC logo or Canadian swordfish (generally loathed by conservationists on several fronts) </span><em style="">with</em><span style=""> an MSC logo, any retailer wanting to promote sustainable seafood is going to choose the former. Not that it ever will be a choice between one species or the other, but the point still holds.</span></p> <p><span style="">2. Confronted with this absurdity, and against a general backdrop of pressure on ecolabels (not just restricted to MSC), retailers and indeed suppliers will be tempted to develop their own criteria (or rather further evolve the internal criteria they already have) and design the policies around the politics &ndash; they will create systems that allow them to reject controversial MSC fisheries that may have NGOs climbing on their roof, whilst accepting that not all their fish needs to carry the logo. </span></p> <p><span style="">3.</span><span style=""><span style="font: 7.0pt Times New Roman;">&nbsp;</span></span><span style="">The NGO movement is split (deeply) on certification and eco-labelling. There are even major splits within conservation groups about programmes like FSC and MSC. When it is divided in this way, the environment movement deprives itself of real influence.</span></p> <p><span style=""> 4.</span><span style=""><span style="font: 7.0pt Times New Roman;">&nbsp;</span></span><span style="">Some observers have concluded that certification (which tends only to certify what was already pretty good anyway) is a proven failure as a policy instrument &ndash; deforestation continues apace, fishing effort increases as stocks plummet and so on. In a world ruined by market failure, are market based instruments proving themselves fit for purpose?</span></p> <p><span style="">5.</span><span style="">Brands (the most important daily channel to consumers) will communicate in ways they see fit to their customers. Increasingly, independent labels may be seen as irrelevant in some marketing meetings. Especially as most certification programmes cannot supply the volumes required for mainstreaming. This allows weaker labels to emerge, which helps no-one.&nbsp;</span></p> <p><span style="">6.</span><span style=""><span style="font: 7.0pt Times New Roman;">&nbsp;</span></span><span style="">Alternative partnership approaches and policy instruments are throwing their weight around, filling the apparent void left by certification&rsquo;s weaknesses. The notion that to meet the planetary boundaries challenge (see <a href="http://tiny.cc/k8jyj">http://tiny.cc/k8jyj</a> ) we must simply create vast swathes of forest and ocean that are left untouched is gaining ground. Ecosystem services and natural capital are exploding as new themes &ndash; no one to my knowledge is proposing FSC or MSC style certification as part of the mix. I can&rsquo;t think why.</span></p> <p>There is an important distinction to be drawn here. Certification is a vital system, but is all too often lumped into the same sentence as eco-labelling. I&rsquo;ve probably done it myself in this post. With certification, one can track, set targets, raise the bar, independently audit and revoke the sustainability credentials of a product. It is a critical management tool, without which measurement is harder to manage and credibility harder to ensure. The problem comes at the labelling end. To apply a label to a product is to imply it represents some form of sustainability excellence. In the case of Canadian longline swordfish, it is hard to make this claim without laughing inwardly. A politician might pull it off, but most couldn&rsquo;t. Certification should be seen as a means. Too often its advocates see it as an end. &nbsp;The certification movement must tackle this issue seriously if it is to survive in the long term.</p> <p>There are many other challenges faced by certification, some of which I documented in this piece in 2010, defending the MSC (see&nbsp;<a href="http://tiny.cc/a05jg">http://tiny.cc/a05jg</a> ) And lest there should be any doubt, I still want the MSC to work. I am, like many others, concerned that the organisation is effectively paralysed. By a bureaucracy and governance that now deters good fisheries. By a conservation credibility deficit that allows less good ones to slip through the net. And by a growing sense amongst those outside the standards and labeling world that it cannot, in its present form, stand the test of time. I don&rsquo;t mean next year, or the year after. I mean the test of time. &nbsp;I hope that emerging narrative is wrong. Those of us who helped build the marketplace for certified products are going to have to show courage, adaptability and leadership if our chosen instrument of progress is to be fit for purpose. That process begins with an admission that not everything is rosy in the garden.&nbsp;</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> </p> <p><a href="http://maydayblog.com/more-on-the-marine-stewardship-council-credib">Permalink</a> | <a href="http://maydayblog.com/more-on-the-marine-stewardship-council-credib#comment">Leave a comment&nbsp;&nbsp;&raquo;</a> </p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/MaydayMaydayMayday/~4/x-R87w00Daw" height="1" width="1"/> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/379244/BM_picture_Tanzania.jpg http://posterous.com/users/3snDk59BptVT Brendan May Brendan Brendan May http://maydayblog.com/more-on-the-marine-stewardship-council-credib Mon, 30 Jan 2012 12:00:00 -0800 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/MaydayMaydayMayday/~3/e8woHJMo9aA/what-alaskas-pullout-tells-us-about-the-marin http://maydayblog.com/what-alaskas-pullout-tells-us-about-the-marin <p> <p style="text-align: justify;"><span>Some rather troubling news for eco-labels this month with the decision by the Alaskan salmon fishing industry to withdraw from the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) programme. A decade ago, Alaska salmon became the first fishery of serious scale (with due apologies to Western Australian rock lobster and Thames herring) to become MSC certified and supermarket chains dutifully snapped up this welcome sustainable alternative to its tasteless and ecologically devastating farmed cousin. &nbsp;It was a great moment. Or so we thought.</span></p> <p style="text-align: justify;">The reason for the decision to leave, says the industry, is that the process of having the fishery re-certified every five years is too cumbersome and expensive. It cites a 50-year history of responsible management, and claims that there are other ways in which it can demonstrate its product&rsquo;s sustainability credentials. Importantly, some seafood companies argue that the competitive advantage of certification is waning as more and more products bearing the MSC stamp hit the marketplace.</p> <p style="text-align: justify;">At first sight, this decision seems totally kamikaze from a commercial point of view.&nbsp; Just as supermarket plans, some of which I have had a hand in designing, call for 100% certified sustainable seafood by this year or that, one of the flagship products that will them help meet those targets pulls out of the most respected certification programme around. But no industry would be stupid enough to pull out of an eco-labelling system without gauging market reaction first. Would it?</p> <p style="text-align: justify;">Groups like MSC spend most of their working hours being attacked. The industry complains the standards are too rigorous. Environmentalists scream they are too lax. Retailers seek clarity so they can plan for supply. Governments snooze. Certifications stall for months or even years as objections are filed, conditions are negotiated and political wrangles threaten progress at every turn. &nbsp;You don&rsquo;t join the MSC for an easy life, and the Alaska salmon industry (made up of some of America&rsquo;s largest seafood processors) has clearly decided life in the programme is just too tricky.</p> <p style="text-align: justify;">In the five years during which I ran the MSC, governance rows and standoffs between conflicting parties (including those who should have been on the same side as each other) started life as irritating squabbles and ended up as one big, giant, monstrous farce. I have still never shared in public the manoeuvring and shenanigans that marked my final year at the MSC, and will not do so for fear of undermining the organisation that gave me my start in the conservation world. It would also embarrass far too many people. No-one, myself included, emerges from it unscathed. It represented the conservation movement at its most self destructive and imbecillic, fuelled by foundations spending other people&rsquo;s money who should have known far better. It was an ugly period that preserved entrenched prejudices but very few fish.</p> <p style="text-align: justify;">There is a serious point at stake here. Although anyone at the MSC will anticipate regular tantrums from hard line conservationists and frustrated mutterings from seafood buyers and sellers in a hurry to make a profit, I certainly hadn&rsquo;t banked on a (relatively) uncontroversial MSC fixture like Alaskan salmon throwing in the towel. In my day we spent hours trying to work out how to kick a fishery out of the programme so Greenpeace and others might stop thinking we were a front for the industry or a Satanic incarnation. &nbsp;We failed, because there was, at the time, no compelling argument to do so. We did not spend even a second preparing for industry itself to say &lsquo;Enough is enough &ndash; we&rsquo;re leaving&rsquo;. I suspect the current MSC did not either. It's important to understand that the Alaksa salmon certification is among the least controversial and polarising of all major MSC certifications. That's why we should be taking this development very seriously indeed. This isn't a predictable storming out by a college candidate about to fail their exam.</p> <p style="text-align: justify;">The worrying thing is this sets a precedent and others may be tempted to follow. There is nothing like safety in numbers. There are even bigger fisheries in the programme with bigger complaints about the insane structures that at times make it impossible for the MSC (and other certification groups) to function effectively. And the reality is that supermarkets need high volume fisheries to supply the products they sell. Alaskan salmon is a better sustainability bet than its rivals any day. With or without a label. This is the calculation they have made. What will a retailer that delists the product replace it with? Greenpeace still refuses to support the Marine Stewardship Council, so that often welcome kick up the backside to the big chains doesn't exist either. A good fishery is refusing to use a label granted to fisheries that everyone knows are a lot worse than Alaska salmon. It's not a sustainable proposition, in this form.&nbsp;</p> <p style="text-align: justify;">Some will argue that as more and more MSC products flood the marketplace it won&rsquo;t matter either way, and the Alaskan salmon industry will look like ignorant and hasty rednecks for withdrawing from the programme. Time will tell. But if others follow, it will prove once and for all that the paralysis and bureaucracy inherent in the MSC&rsquo;s governance (which was light touch by design until it was hijacked by those more concerned with process than outcome) is a multi million dollar death sentence, administered slowy and painfully. If not for the organisation then for the real issue at hand: sustainable seafood. &nbsp;I have no doubt that the auditing the Alaska salmon industry says will replace MSC will be inferior to the system used for the last ten years. But I&rsquo;d be hard pushed to tell a retailer to delist the product just because it didn&rsquo;t carry the blue stamp of approval. And that is something I never thought I&rsquo;d say. I&rsquo;ll be watching other fisheries with great interest. Especially in Alaska.</p> <p style="text-align: justify;">Conservationists are right to attack bad certifications and stand up to big busines and its lobby groups. But if their gift to the oceans is the mind numbing governance that drives progressive and well managed industries away from the MSC table, it will be a poor legacy indeed.&nbsp;</p> <p style="text-align: justify;"><span>&nbsp;</span></p> <p style="text-align: justify;"><span>&nbsp;</span></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> </p> <p><a href="http://maydayblog.com/what-alaskas-pullout-tells-us-about-the-marin">Permalink</a> | <a href="http://maydayblog.com/what-alaskas-pullout-tells-us-about-the-marin#comment">Leave a comment&nbsp;&nbsp;&raquo;</a> </p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/MaydayMaydayMayday/~4/e8woHJMo9aA" height="1" width="1"/> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/379244/BM_picture_Tanzania.jpg http://posterous.com/users/3snDk59BptVT Brendan May Brendan Brendan May http://maydayblog.com/what-alaskas-pullout-tells-us-about-the-marin Tue, 17 Jan 2012 04:28:00 -0800 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/MaydayMaydayMayday/~3/NEP_KrQaKfI/planetary-boundaries-business-sustainability http://maydayblog.com/planetary-boundaries-business-sustainability <p> <p style="text-align: justify;">One of the best things about a holiday is the opportunity it provides to tackle that pile of books that has been building up menacingly since the last one. What more appropriate place to read Mark Lynas&rsquo;s latest book, <em>The God Species</em>, than in the Maldives, given the author&rsquo;s part time role advising the President of that threatened country on climate change and sustainability. Given the amount of technical information crammed into the book, it&rsquo;s an easy read, if slightly uncomfortable in that it pulls no punches in challenging some of the sacred cows of large parts of the green movement. I think it&rsquo;s the most important thing I&rsquo;ve read for some time, although I can hear the knives of some colleagues being sharpened when I say that, by and large, I find the basic assumptions of the book compelling and its recommendations for the green movement and beyond it equally so.</p> <p style="text-align: justify;">Lynas didn&rsquo;t endear himself to many environmentalists when he participated in a Channel 4 documentary, <em>What the Green Movement Got Wrong</em>, just over a year ago. Indeed, it was a pretty poor programme, followed by an even poorer studio debate. I don&rsquo;t intend to get detained for long by the most polarizing elements of <em>The God Species</em> here; the arguments for and against nuclear power and, similarly, GM technology have been well rehearsed by people more qualified than me. Suffice to say I am not dogmatically for or against either, and I don&rsquo;t think the planet can afford to rule out anything given its perilous state. That peril is brilliantly articulated in <em>The God Species</em>, making the relatively inaccessible research and views of highly respected scientists readable for those of us unlucky enough not to have been born with scientific brains. It&rsquo;s high time environmentalists thought like engineers and scientists, not policy campaigners, says Lynas. Reading the numbers, it&rsquo;s hard to disagree.</p> <p style="text-align: justify;">Lynas is the first to acknowledge the concept of planetary boundaries is not his own, but he views himself as the transmitter of its tenets. He uses his journalistic flair to do so, to great effect. Reading his polemical prose it struck me as odd that in the discourse about business sustainability, the planetary boundary concept has yet to achieve much traction. Laid out as it is by Lynas, it seems so blindingly obvious.</p> <p style="text-align: justify;"><span>For those unfamiliar with the approach, it essentially identifies nine key planetary boundaries the world cannot afford to breach. These cover climate change, nitrogen flow, land use, biodiversity, aerosols, ocean acidification, toxics, ozone depletion and freshwater.&nbsp; For each, the Planetary Boundaries Group of scientists has identified the acceptable limit. For climate change, 350 parts per million of atmospheric carbon dioxide, an extinction rate of 10 per million species per year, and so on. The calibre of the scientists involved (led by Johan </span><span style="background-color: white;">Rockstr&ouml;m of the Stockholm Resilience Centre</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; background-color: white;"> and </span><span>including NASA&rsquo;s James Hansen) suggests one would either need to be supremely confident or utterly foolhardy to challenge their assumptions too much.</span></p> <p style="text-align: justify;">As each problem is laid out, Lynas exposes the idealistic wishful thinking that makes progress in limiting our collective footprint seem like a pipe dream. He freely admits to changing his mind on both GMO and nuclear, and it is soon easy to see why. Indeed, one of his strongest detractors in the Channel 4 debate was George Monbiot, who has of course since changed his mind on nuclear too. There is nothing wrong with changing one&rsquo;s mind and increasingly history may judge those who refuse to more harshly than than those who have. If it is true that opposition to nuclear power is responsible for a billion extra tonnes of CO2 being pumped into the atmosphere, then hardline greens certainly seem to have a lot to answer for.</p> <p style="text-align: justify;">My interest in the planetary boundaries approach is not in revisiting these old debates, but in what business can do to adopt this commonsense approach when thinking about its own impacts, at both single business and wider sector level. If we accept that the planet can only tolerate so much of a particular destabilizing activity (such as disruption to the nitrogen cycle, black carbon or methane release from the seabed), then it follows that businesses, not just governments, must think in these terms when considering their own activities. The tired old waste and carbon reduction measures won&rsquo;t really cut the mustard given the challenges we now face. <em>The God Species</em> is one of the best accounts of those challenges produced in recent years.</p> <p style="text-align: justify;"><span>&nbsp;</span>Lynas is brutal about the blanket orthodoxies on carbon offsetting, nuclear and GMOs that have in his view made the green movement unfit for purpose. He scorns initiatives such as Earth Hour, and sees little hope for mass consumption reductions in the form of &lsquo;behaviour change&rsquo;. Here I find myself nodding vigorously. And I share Lynas&rsquo;s view that hoping that developing world nations will somehow develop their aspirations and wellbeing differently to how we did so is na&iuml;ve and bordering on the idiotic. As Lynas points out, saying we need two more planets to live as we do now is rather a waste of time, as we aren&rsquo;t going to find them. The question is how to use technology, policy and, of course, business behavior to make existence on this planet both profitable and sustainable. Lynas is no pessimist &ndash; he believes we can still turn the corner (only three of the nine boundaries have so far been breached).</p> <p style="text-align: justify;">For a business wishing to adopt this way of thinking, there could be rich pickings. Although traditional life cycle assessment is a useful tool in identifying where the big wins are in tackling the footprint of a particular product or behaviour, the planetary boundaries concept, applied globally, may offer a great deal more. It&rsquo;s something I plan to explore in more detail. If we can adapt the scientific wisdom of the Planetary Boundaries Group to commercial thinking, get the environment movement to drop some of its potentially counterproductive stances, and build a framework for companies based on what we can and can&rsquo;t sustain, we may yet find a diversion from the catastrophic course upon which we are currently embarked. It&rsquo;s well worth a try.</p> <p style="text-align: justify;">Naturally, the planetary boundaries framework remains to be universally accepted. And its implications in terms of &lsquo;techno fixes&rsquo; will divide politicians, businesses and the green movement for years to come. But it can&rsquo;t be ignored. I strongly suggest you read <em>The God Species </em>and draw your own conclusions.&nbsp;</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> </p> <p><a href="http://maydayblog.com/planetary-boundaries-business-sustainability">Permalink</a> | <a href="http://maydayblog.com/planetary-boundaries-business-sustainability#comment">Leave a comment&nbsp;&nbsp;&raquo;</a> </p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/MaydayMaydayMayday/~4/NEP_KrQaKfI" height="1" width="1"/> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/379244/BM_picture_Tanzania.jpg http://posterous.com/users/3snDk59BptVT Brendan May Brendan Brendan May http://maydayblog.com/planetary-boundaries-business-sustainability Thu, 01 Dec 2011 00:47:00 -0800 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/MaydayMaydayMayday/~3/07BGHStwmyc/latest-thinking-from-the-robertsbridge-group http://maydayblog.com/latest-thinking-from-the-robertsbridge-group <p> <p>Here's the regular round up of our founders' latest thoughts on sustainability issues and trends. In this issue, Peter Ainsworth on the anti capitalist protests, Tony Juniper on the big new word for 2012 and Matt Prescott on an innovate blueprint for an alternative economic model. You can view the update here.&nbsp;<a href="http://tiny.cc/vitre">http://tiny.cc/vitre</a></p> </p> <p><a href="http://maydayblog.com/latest-thinking-from-the-robertsbridge-group">Permalink</a> | <a href="http://maydayblog.com/latest-thinking-from-the-robertsbridge-group#comment">Leave a comment&nbsp;&nbsp;&raquo;</a> </p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/MaydayMaydayMayday/~4/07BGHStwmyc" height="1" width="1"/> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/379244/BM_picture_Tanzania.jpg http://posterous.com/users/3snDk59BptVT Brendan May Brendan Brendan May http://maydayblog.com/latest-thinking-from-the-robertsbridge-group Thu, 03 Nov 2011 04:28:00 -0700 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/MaydayMaydayMayday/~3/W2kBw_Y9JgY/ngos-and-big-business-too-close-for-comfort http://maydayblog.com/ngos-and-big-business-too-close-for-comfort <p> <p>My latest column for Ethical Corporation is here&nbsp;<a href="http://tiny.cc/4ohfb">http://tiny.cc/4ohfb</a>&nbsp;</p> <p>In it I set out the principles I believe should guide any engagement between NGOs and companies, especially as the behaviour of some NGOs comes under ever greater scrutiny.&nbsp;</p> </p> <p><a href="http://maydayblog.com/ngos-and-big-business-too-close-for-comfort">Permalink</a> | <a href="http://maydayblog.com/ngos-and-big-business-too-close-for-comfort#comment">Leave a comment&nbsp;&nbsp;&raquo;</a> </p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/MaydayMaydayMayday/~4/W2kBw_Y9JgY" height="1" width="1"/> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/379244/BM_picture_Tanzania.jpg http://posterous.com/users/3snDk59BptVT Brendan May Brendan Brendan May http://maydayblog.com/ngos-and-big-business-too-close-for-comfort Mon, 17 Oct 2011 10:11:00 -0700 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/MaydayMaydayMayday/~3/zRYwUKmRxBY/indonesias-moves-on-greenpeace-get-curiouser http://maydayblog.com/indonesias-moves-on-greenpeace-get-curiouser <p> <p>A brief update to Friday's post on John Sauven's expulsion from Indonesia. First, you can read John's own account of the bizarre episode here&nbsp;<a href="http://tiny.cc/6m6jp">http://tiny.cc/6m6jp</a></p> <p>There is still to my knowledge no officially detailed reason for the decision, despite John having planned meetings with government officials and big Indonesian companies. Meanwhile, my Twitter feed has received the attention of a follower purporting to work in the Indonesian 'government field'. It all started off in a mundane enough way, stressing how much havoc Greenpeace is causing in Indonesia (not as much havoc as cutting down all the rainforests, I venture) and that the government is trying to crack down on the organisation and so on. All legitimate debate, although some very senior and respected Indonesians seem to be on Greenpeace's side on this one - more on that in the Jakarta Post here&nbsp;<a href="http://tiny.cc/e59fr">http://tiny.cc/e59fr</a></p> <p>Then my Twitter dissenter posted something utterly extraordinary. The reason Sauven was deported, he wrote, was because of a secret intelligence document showing he was planning a protest at an Indonesian nuclear reactor. I know for a fact that this is utter nonsense. Greenpeace UK does not campaign on the Indonesian nuclear industry - they have their hands full enough with that issue at home. Clearly this line was not sanctioned officially, and I have not been able to discover which part of the government this individual works for. It does reveal the confusion in Indonesia itself about what has transpired in the last few days.&nbsp;</p> <p>On the subject of utter nonsense, a new saga has been developing involving Andy Tait, another Greenpeace UK campaigner. The Jakarta Globe has that story here <a href="http://tiny.cc/vua07">http://tiny.cc/vua07</a> Messy, at best.</p> <p>Whoever is behind these moves, they are not helping Indonesian business or the Indonesian government one jot. Of course, many senior figures in busines and government know this. So presumably they will now use their influence to stop further embarrassment.&nbsp;</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> </p> <p><a href="http://maydayblog.com/indonesias-moves-on-greenpeace-get-curiouser">Permalink</a> | <a href="http://maydayblog.com/indonesias-moves-on-greenpeace-get-curiouser#comment">Leave a comment&nbsp;&nbsp;&raquo;</a> </p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/MaydayMaydayMayday/~4/zRYwUKmRxBY" height="1" width="1"/> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/379244/BM_picture_Tanzania.jpg http://posterous.com/users/3snDk59BptVT Brendan May Brendan Brendan May http://maydayblog.com/indonesias-moves-on-greenpeace-get-curiouser Fri, 14 Oct 2011 08:58:07 -0700 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/MaydayMaydayMayday/~3/iCe1Xjtp6nc/deportation-of-greenpeace-director-is-a-massi http://maydayblog.com/deportation-of-greenpeace-director-is-a-massi <p> <p>John Sauven, who runs Greenpeace UK (and very well he runs it too), is a brilliant campaigner. Under his leadership, Greenpeace UK has changed the direction of several multinational companies across several sectors. His organisation is widely regarded as the most effective campaigning NGO in Britain. I agree.&nbsp;</p> <p>John is also savvy enough to be able to deal in a grown up and sophisticated way with companies and governments. He is a tough negotiator, but commands the respect of many business people, including people in the businesses who have been on the roughest end of Sauven's campaigns. In fact, especially those people.&nbsp;</p> <p>John is not a terrorist or anarchist. He doesn't disrupt public order for the sake of it. He has often found himself on the right side of the argument in some rather high profile battles with government. And he has helped build some remarkable progress in businesses where such progress once seemed impossible.&nbsp;</p> <p>The deal on palm oil deforestation between Greenpeace, the Forest Trust and Golden Agri Resources (GAR), was one such example. GAR is owned by Sinar Mas, which also own the notoriously hopeless Asia Pulp and Paper (APP). GAR is now starting to emerge as something of a leader in its sector, and as a result is winning back some of the customers it lost at the height of the palm oil issue's media profile last year. John can take much of the credit for this progress.&nbsp;</p> <p>It was presumably to follow up on this success that Sauven planned this week to visit Indonesia, the country in which he married, meeting companies and government officials to further advance the effort to tackle deforestation in the country. Plenty of Indonesians, in companies and government, were planning to meet him, and he had no trouble getting a visa for his trip.&nbsp;</p> <p>Odd then, that upon arrival in Jakarta yesterday, he was denied entry and immediately deported. See the Jakarta Globe's coverage of that at <a href="http://tiny.cc/9lxyr">http://tiny.cc/9lxyr</a>&nbsp;There are dark forces at work here. The only question is who is behind them. The line being put out is that John's activities are in some way a threat to the national sovereignty of Indonesia. This is of course nonsense - the GAR deal is a big win for Indonesia. Not to mention the fact that one of the greatest threats to Indonesia is the continued loss of its rainforests.&nbsp;</p> <p>One can only speculate at how a planned trip with full official approval was so suddenly derailed. The most likely conclusion is pressure from one or more of the companies that have not yet seen eye to eye with Greenpeace on deforestation issues. Ironically, had the visit gone ahead, it would probably have received little or no attention. In deporting Sauven as soon as he entered the immigration hall, Indonesia has scored a spectacular own goal, in the same way that banning advertisements always ensures they are seen by more people than had they been aired in the usual way.&nbsp;</p> <p>Should it emerge that this bad decision was the outcome of Indonesian companies applying pressure on the government, those firms will lose even more customers than would have been the case already. That won't do Indonesia any good at all. Time will tell. I have a funny feeling this sinister episode marks the beginning of a new and ugly chapter in a saga that has already gone on for far too long. One day, the full truth will out. It always does.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> </p> <p><a href="http://maydayblog.com/deportation-of-greenpeace-director-is-a-massi">Permalink</a> | <a href="http://maydayblog.com/deportation-of-greenpeace-director-is-a-massi#comment">Leave a comment&nbsp;&nbsp;&raquo;</a> </p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/MaydayMaydayMayday/~4/iCe1Xjtp6nc" height="1" width="1"/> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/379244/BM_picture_Tanzania.jpg http://posterous.com/users/3snDk59BptVT Brendan May Brendan Brendan May http://maydayblog.com/deportation-of-greenpeace-director-is-a-massi Tue, 27 Sep 2011 01:53:00 -0700 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/MaydayMaydayMayday/~3/gcFjGK-FRkI/quick-news-roundup-from-the-robertsbridge-gro http://maydayblog.com/quick-news-roundup-from-the-robertsbridge-gro <p> <p>We've just released the first of six (free!) annual updates from the Robertsbridge Group. In this edition, we explore the potential for a sustainable ICT sector, the proposed UK planning reforms, the ethics of choosing clients and the challenges facing the NGO movement. We also pay tribute to Ray Anderson and Wangari Maathai, two giants of the sustainability movement.</p> <p>We know how annoying unsolicited emails can be, and we like to comply with the law, so if you're interested in these bulletins, please do sign up for them! You can do that here &nbsp;<a href="http://bit.ly/nkgSMD">http://bit.ly/nkgSMD</a>&nbsp;and the bulletin itself can be viewed here <a href="http://tiny.cc/oaxob">http://tiny.cc/oaxob</a></p> <p>If there are sustainability topics you'd like to hear about from our founders in the future, please let us know and we'll try to include them in future issues.&nbsp;</p> </p> <p><a href="http://maydayblog.com/quick-news-roundup-from-the-robertsbridge-gro">Permalink</a> | <a href="http://maydayblog.com/quick-news-roundup-from-the-robertsbridge-gro#comment">Leave a comment&nbsp;&nbsp;&raquo;</a> </p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/MaydayMaydayMayday/~4/gcFjGK-FRkI" height="1" width="1"/> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/379244/BM_picture_Tanzania.jpg http://posterous.com/users/3snDk59BptVT Brendan May Brendan Brendan May http://maydayblog.com/quick-news-roundup-from-the-robertsbridge-gro Thu, 11 Aug 2011 03:31:00 -0700 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/MaydayMaydayMayday/~3/LiyKlkdRuN8/asia-pulp-paper-greenwashes-on-bravely http://maydayblog.com/asia-pulp-paper-greenwashes-on-bravely <p> <p> <p class="p1">In recent weeks Asia Pulp and Paper (APP)&nbsp;&nbsp;seems to have all but given up on PR (getting others to say you're good) and reverted to the time honoured tradition of buying up as much advertising space as possible (you saying you're good). My Saturday must-read, The Week magazine, is now defaced by whole page 'APP Cares' ads on biodiversity in every issue. Sky TV, whilst in partnership with WWF on rainforest conservation, runs greenwashing spots from APP at every opportunity. In Australia, APP has resorted to the blunt and aggressive (and counter-productive), as you can see here: <a href="http://tiny.cc/y5zbi">http://tiny.cc/y5zbi</a> Could this per chance have anything to do with the loss of one of APP's biggest customers down under in recent weeks? Metcash deserves wholesome praise for doing the right thing and acting fast. See&nbsp;<a href="http://tiny.cc/4t8yz">http://tiny.cc/4t8yz</a></p> <p class="p1">Writing from Holland, my mother informs me that the APP greenwash fiesta is in full swing on Dutch TV. The old 'we plant trees' joke, apparently. She makes the point that no Dutch consumers have ever heard of APP (the same applies throughout Europe) and asks why they would spend so much advertising a brand no-one can buy directly.&nbsp;</p> <p class="p1">I have no answer to this. One of the many mysteries of APP's communications strategy (see past posts) is that in raising its profile among audiences to whom it was previously unknown, it recruits new foes almost by the hour, since anyone who looks up APP after seeing one of their nonsensical ads will instantly see for themselves what this charade is all about. If I were APP, I'd shut up about the environment.</p> <p class="p1">This company is fast becoming a major embarrassment to the whole Indonesian corporate sector. Perhaps the Indonesian government will exert some pressure and make its bosses see sense.</p> <p class="p1">Meanwhile, a Texas-based advertising agency seems totally oblivious to the nonsense they are peddling for their client. Presumably APP couldn't find an ad agency in any of America's coastal cities. WARNING - don't read this if you're already in a bad mood. <a href="http://tiny.cc/4j88v">http://tiny.cc/4j88v</a> Too ghastly for words really.</p> <p class="p1">So, do keep your eyes peeled for more APP greenwash in the weeks ahead. They seem to think it helps them. And do encourage broadcasters and print media not to take this tarnished advertising revenue. &nbsp;I had hoped APP might have moved in the right direction by now, as customers continue to look elsewhere and NGOs expose an ever worsening tale of greenwash. Sadly it seems we shall have to wait a little longer.&nbsp;</p> </p> </p> <p><a href="http://maydayblog.com/asia-pulp-paper-greenwashes-on-bravely">Permalink</a> | <a href="http://maydayblog.com/asia-pulp-paper-greenwashes-on-bravely#comment">Leave a comment&nbsp;&nbsp;&raquo;</a> </p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/MaydayMaydayMayday/~4/LiyKlkdRuN8" height="1" width="1"/> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/379244/BM_picture_Tanzania.jpg http://posterous.com/users/3snDk59BptVT Brendan May Brendan Brendan May http://maydayblog.com/asia-pulp-paper-greenwashes-on-bravely Wed, 06 Jul 2011 06:14:04 -0700 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/MaydayMaydayMayday/~3/z-hhMPQ7eVk/podcast-interview-on-asia-pulp-and-paper-gree http://maydayblog.com/podcast-interview-on-asia-pulp-and-paper-gree <p> <div><div><div>Here is a podcast recorded this week with Toby Webb of Ethical Corporation in which we discuss my recent open letter to Asia Pulp &amp; Paper and why the company's environmental communications strategy is proving such a disaster. You can listen by clicking here. <a href="http://tiny.cc/ae3mx">http://tiny.cc/ae3mx</a></div></div></div><p /><div>In case you haven't seen the letter we are discussing, that can be found here.&nbsp;<a href="http://tiny.cc/qg0q1">http://tiny.cc/qg0q1</a></div> </p> <p><a href="http://maydayblog.com/podcast-interview-on-asia-pulp-and-paper-gree">Permalink</a> | <a href="http://maydayblog.com/podcast-interview-on-asia-pulp-and-paper-gree#comment">Leave a comment&nbsp;&nbsp;&raquo;</a> </p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/MaydayMaydayMayday/~4/z-hhMPQ7eVk" height="1" width="1"/> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/379244/BM_picture_Tanzania.jpg http://posterous.com/users/3snDk59BptVT Brendan May Brendan Brendan May http://maydayblog.com/podcast-interview-on-asia-pulp-and-paper-gree Mon, 04 Jul 2011 14:54:29 -0700 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/MaydayMaydayMayday/~3/B0LVb4lcGLc/first-50-of-100-things-to-do-before-you-die http://maydayblog.com/first-50-of-100-things-to-do-before-you-die <p> <div><div><div>We're at the halfway mark already! Here are your suggestions 41-50 of 100 things to do before you die. Thanks for the great response so far&#8230;</div></div></div><p /><div><div><span style="line-height: 27px; font-family: Calibri;">41. Learn to juggle</span></div><div><span style="line-height: 27px; font-family: Calibri;">42. Experience the Aurora Borealis</span></div><div><span style="line-height: 27px; font-family: Calibri;">43. Learn Italian</span></div><div><span style="line-height: 27px; font-family: Calibri;">44. Take a belly dancing class</span></div><div><span style="line-height: 27px; font-family: Calibri;">45. Write a novel</span></div><div><span style="line-height: 27px; font-family: Calibri;">46. Sell your car</span></div><div><span style="line-height: 27px; font-family: Calibri;">47. Watch all twelve episodes of Fawlty Towers</span></div><div><span style="line-height: 27px; font-family: Calibri;">48. See the Kirov Ballet in St Petersburg</span></div><div><span style="line-height: 27px; font-family: Calibri;">49. Visit Robben Island, South Africa</span></div><div><span style="line-height: 27px; font-family: Calibri;">50. Learn a musical instrument</span></div></div><p /><div><span style="line-height: 27px; font-family: Calibri;">And, as usual &#8211; my tally. I've done two and a fifth of these (meaning I've written a couple of chapters of a novel&#8230;) Only another 50 go go! Keep them coming&#8230;&nbsp;</span></div> </p> <p><a href="http://maydayblog.com/first-50-of-100-things-to-do-before-you-die">Permalink</a> | <a href="http://maydayblog.com/first-50-of-100-things-to-do-before-you-die#comment">Leave a comment&nbsp;&nbsp;&raquo;</a> </p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/MaydayMaydayMayday/~4/B0LVb4lcGLc" height="1" width="1"/> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/379244/BM_picture_Tanzania.jpg http://posterous.com/users/3snDk59BptVT Brendan May Brendan Brendan May http://maydayblog.com/first-50-of-100-things-to-do-before-you-die Mon, 04 Jul 2011 01:50:00 -0700 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/MaydayMaydayMayday/~3/sXv75DhDQaE/part-4-of-100-things-to-do-before-you-die http://maydayblog.com/part-4-of-100-things-to-do-before-you-die <p> <div><div><div>Here are the next group of suggestions from fellow Tweeters&#8230;</div><p /><div>31.Visit the Pyramids of Giza</div></div></div><div><div><div style=""><div><div><div>32. Join the Liverpool supporters singing Y<i>ou'll Never Walk Alone</i> at Anfield&nbsp;</div><div>33. Swim with dolphins in the Galapagos Islands</div><div>34. Walk the Great Wall of China</div><div>35. Visit one of the world's great waterfalls</div><div>36. Visit the salt flats in Bolivia</div><div>37. Live with an indigenous tribe in the Amazon&nbsp;</div><div>38. Go to the opera in Sydney</div><div>39. See the Taj Mahal&nbsp;</div><div>40. Have dinner with Daniel Barenboim&nbsp;</div></div></div></div></div></div><p /><div>Only done three of these &#8211; poor!&nbsp;</div> </p> <p><a href="http://maydayblog.com/part-4-of-100-things-to-do-before-you-die">Permalink</a> | <a href="http://maydayblog.com/part-4-of-100-things-to-do-before-you-die#comment">Leave a comment&nbsp;&nbsp;&raquo;</a> </p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/MaydayMaydayMayday/~4/sXv75DhDQaE" height="1" width="1"/> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/379244/BM_picture_Tanzania.jpg http://posterous.com/users/3snDk59BptVT Brendan May Brendan Brendan May http://maydayblog.com/part-4-of-100-things-to-do-before-you-die Sun, 03 Jul 2011 03:39:24 -0700 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/MaydayMaydayMayday/~3/FEQIajrEYNI/part-3-of-100-things-to-do-before-you-die http://maydayblog.com/part-3-of-100-things-to-do-before-you-die <p> <div><div><div>They're coming in thick and fast. This latest batch takes us up to number 30&#8230;&nbsp;</div></div></div><p /><div><div>21. See tigers in the wild</div><div>22. Visit the Maldives before they go</div><div>23. See orangutans in Borneo (before they go too)</div><div>24. See polar bears in Manitoba (you've guessed it &#8211; before they go)</div><div>25. Drive across the United States</div><div>26. Visit Antarctica&nbsp;</div><div>27. See stars in the Gobi Desert</div><div>28. Climb to 20,000 feet</div><div>29. Listen to&nbsp;<i>Kind of Blue&nbsp;</i>by Miles Davis&nbsp;</div><div>30. See&nbsp;<i>The Tempest</i>&nbsp;in Stratford-on-Avon</div></div><p /><div>I've done just two of these so far. Keep tweeting in your suggestions.&nbsp;</div> </p> <p><a href="http://maydayblog.com/part-3-of-100-things-to-do-before-you-die">Permalink</a> | <a href="http://maydayblog.com/part-3-of-100-things-to-do-before-you-die#comment">Leave a comment&nbsp;&nbsp;&raquo;</a> </p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/MaydayMaydayMayday/~4/FEQIajrEYNI" height="1" width="1"/> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/379244/BM_picture_Tanzania.jpg http://posterous.com/users/3snDk59BptVT Brendan May Brendan Brendan May http://maydayblog.com/part-3-of-100-things-to-do-before-you-die Fri, 01 Jul 2011 00:45:39 -0700 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/MaydayMaydayMayday/~3/IUhSob1hOCY/100-things-to-do-before-you-die-part-2 http://maydayblog.com/100-things-to-do-before-you-die-part-2 <p> <div><div><div>So, as promised, here are the next bundle of suggestions from people around the world (or around the Twitterverse at any rate):</div></div></div><p /><div>11. Put your entire career on the line to expose corporate irresponsibility (not mine, but I very much sympathise..!)&nbsp;</div><p /><div>12. Learn to scuba dive</div><p /><div>13. Encourage a child</div><p /><div>14. Always remember to turn the lights off</div><p /><div>15. Walk in an old forest alone big enough that you can't hear the traffic and for you to walk all day without reaching the edge. Dare to go off the path</div><p /><div>16. Spend three days living in a rainforest</div><p /><div>17. Take one of the world's great train journeys</div><p /><div>18. Donate 10% of a year's income to conservation charities</div><p /><div>19. Go on a safari</div><p /><div>20. Visit the Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington DC</div><p /><div>In this group, I've done seven so far, a better score than for the previous ten. Keep them coming &#8211; only 80 to go&#8230;&nbsp;</div> </p> <p><a href="http://maydayblog.com/100-things-to-do-before-you-die-part-2">Permalink</a> | <a href="http://maydayblog.com/100-things-to-do-before-you-die-part-2#comment">Leave a comment&nbsp;&nbsp;&raquo;</a> </p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/MaydayMaydayMayday/~4/IUhSob1hOCY" height="1" width="1"/> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/379244/BM_picture_Tanzania.jpg http://posterous.com/users/3snDk59BptVT Brendan May Brendan Brendan May http://maydayblog.com/100-things-to-do-before-you-die-part-2 Thu, 30 Jun 2011 01:19:00 -0700 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/MaydayMaydayMayday/~3/aYDuugLZZzg/100-things-to-do-before-you-die http://maydayblog.com/100-things-to-do-before-you-die <p> <div>Yesterday I thought it would be fun to compile a list of 100 sustainability/culturally oriented things everyone should try and do or experience before they die. I sent a message to my trusty Twitter community and sure enough, the suggestions have started to roll in. I'll compile ten every few days, time permitting and add some of my own sporadically.&nbsp;</div> <p /> <div>I'm not doing this for any reason other than I thought it would be good to inspire each other to experience the great things some people enjoy, as well as taking some collective actions that drive the green and ethical agenda forward. As you'll see, there are a huge variety of things that give people pleasure.&nbsp;</div> <p /> <div>Here's what people have sent in so far, in no order of preference. Please tweet your suggestions to me at @bmay or as comments below this post. Enjoy (and don't forget to do some of them even if you have plenty of time left..)</div> <p /> <ol> <li>Learn to grow your favourite vegetables&nbsp;</li> <li>Find the word in every human language there is or has ever been for 'respect'</li> <li>Adopt a pet or two from a shelter (or pay to foster some in a shelter)</li> <li>Be your own boss</li> <li>Read Catch-22 (several times)</li> <li>See Petra at sunset</li> <li>Sleep in a tent in the pouring rain with someone you love</li> <li>Write 100 letters to supermarkets demanding they only sell responsible products and get your friends to do the same</li> <li>See whales in the wild</li> <li>Listen to Rachmaninov's second symphony</li> </ol> <div>Of these, I've only done five. Must do better..&nbsp;</div> </p> <p><a href="http://maydayblog.com/100-things-to-do-before-you-die">Permalink</a> | <a href="http://maydayblog.com/100-things-to-do-before-you-die#comment">Leave a comment&nbsp;&nbsp;&raquo;</a> </p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/MaydayMaydayMayday/~4/aYDuugLZZzg" height="1" width="1"/> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/379244/BM_picture_Tanzania.jpg http://posterous.com/users/3snDk59BptVT Brendan May Brendan Brendan May http://maydayblog.com/100-things-to-do-before-you-die Tue, 21 Jun 2011 14:32:00 -0700 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/MaydayMaydayMayday/~3/m0Fu2ZNZ1SI/channel-4-sky-wwf-loreal http://maydayblog.com/channel-4-sky-wwf-loreal <p> <p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: 14px;">Sometimes I can barely keep up with the pace of the sustainability debate. After the great response to my open letter to Asia Pulp &amp; Paper (see&nbsp;</span><a href="http://tiny.cc/sac5j"><span style="font-size: 14px;"><span style="color: #000000;">http://tiny.cc/sac5j</span></span></a><span style="font-size: 14px;">&nbsp;), no sooner had I put the finishing touches to that blog post when news reached me that Sky is currently running adverts for APP, whilst promoting a 'partnership' with WWF to save rainforests. In turn this coincided with last night's UK Channel 4 Dispatches programme, 'Conservation's Dirty Secret', in which WWF and Conservation International (see&nbsp;</span><a href="http://tiny.cc/e2u09"><span style="font-size: 14px;"><span style="color: #000000;">http://tiny.cc/e2u09</span></span></a><span style="font-size: 14px;">&nbsp;) were, to put it charitably, embarrassed, not helped by dismal media performances from their respective leaders. The upshot: when WWF's UK CEO is not on national television saying turtles are amphibians, his organisation is taking money from a conservation partnership with a broadcaster taking advertising revenue from one of the greatest enemies of rainforest conservation in the world. This can't go on. And an awful lot of people are saying so, at least in private.&nbsp;</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: 14px;">&nbsp;</span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: 14px;">Some people would use this perfect storm to turn on the conservation movement. They would hijack this PR misfortune as proof that the green movement is full of hot air and bad science. That is the wrong reaction. We must not abandon conservation, or the (good) organisations that promote it, but we must do a lot better. My colleague Charles Secrett offers a manifesto blueprint for change in the NGO movement in today's Guardian. You can read Charles's open letter to the green movement here&nbsp;</span><a href="http://tiny.cc/xkvex"><span style="font-size: 14px;"><span style="color: #000000;">http://tiny.cc/xkvex</span></span></a><span style="font-size: 14px;">&nbsp;</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14px;">Big NGOs risk becoming a total irrelevance if they do not take a long hard look at themselves. Not only are they jeopardising hard won victories through poor leadership, bad communication and a lack of ideological coherence. They are playing into the hands of those who would like the environment movement to disappear, allowing the world's worst firms to carry on their exploitation of the planet's dwindling resources unhindered.&nbsp;</span></p> <p><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14px;">Today, I went to a stakeholder forum convened by L'Oreal in London. Their sustainability director, Francis Quinn, was infinitely more eloquent about global challenges and the conservation agenda than most NGO leaders and, needless to say, all politicians. It depressed me that it should take a cosmetics firm executive to reaffirm my commitment to sustainability at a time when its greatest public champions are letting down the cause so terribly badly. &nbsp;I could have listened to Quinn for hours, whilst I found my finger on the off button for most of last night's Channel 4 documentary. I only stayed with it in the way you stay with a dreadful reality show &ndash; you wait for the car crash moment to happen. It did last night, long before the programme ended, along with my respect for big NGOs who take the corporate shilling.&nbsp;</span></p> <p><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14px;">&nbsp;</span><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14px;">In the end, business will tackle these issues and resolve as many of them as possible, for their own self interest. And yes, they will do so in partnership with NGOs. But it will be the NGOs who are truly independent of vast corporate financial relationships, or those that deliver grassroots, ground level, measurable conservation improvement. I'll be backing the kinds of groups in those two categories. Where that will leave the new NGO behemoths, I'm really not sure.&nbsp;</span></p> </p> <p><a href="http://maydayblog.com/channel-4-sky-wwf-loreal">Permalink</a> | <a href="http://maydayblog.com/channel-4-sky-wwf-loreal#comment">Leave a comment&nbsp;&nbsp;&raquo;</a> </p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/MaydayMaydayMayday/~4/m0Fu2ZNZ1SI" height="1" width="1"/> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/379244/BM_picture_Tanzania.jpg http://posterous.com/users/3snDk59BptVT Brendan May Brendan Brendan May http://maydayblog.com/channel-4-sky-wwf-loreal Mon, 13 Jun 2011 09:06:00 -0700 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/MaydayMaydayMayday/~3/LxZX9uVeWvg/stunning-response-to-asia-pulp-paper-letter http://maydayblog.com/stunning-response-to-asia-pulp-paper-letter <p> <div> <div> <div>Well, it's been quite a couple of days. When I finally found the inner courage to publish my thoughts on Asia Pulp &amp; Paper (see next post below), I spent the rest of Friday feeling a mixture of nervous sickness and utter exhaustion. Years of frustration with this company had finally been released, in total editorial freedom, and I did not know how what I wrote would fare. I thought perhaps that as someone who makes a living from advising businesses I might have shot myself in the foot rather badly with the mortgage payers. Would NGO colleagues think I had gone too far in public? Would clients disapprove?&nbsp;</div> </div> </div> <p /> <div>I could never have dreamt of the positive reaction my blog generated. Not just from NGOs, from whom I expected small scale polite approval, but received truly momentous and proactive support on Twitter and elsewhere. Tweet after tweet, Facebook 'likes' and personal messages too many to count. But also from businesses, large and small, who wrote to me confirming they shared my view. Clients, non clients, journalists, people I haven't heard from for years. Even competitor consultancy firms voiced their support. &nbsp;I could not possibly have imagined the degree to which my little blog post would be recirculated, but it has been, far and wide, and I can only thank all those who shared it for their efforts.&nbsp;</div> <p /> <div>So far, only one reaction has been predictable. A circuitous approach from APP's PR firm, suggesting a private meeting. I'll pass on that one, thanks. Although I might be up for a public debate&hellip; And stony silence from the proverbial horse's mouth (APP). I've seen some rather silly tweets from Aida Greenbury, who is nominally in charge of 'sustainability' at APP, about her apparently having been here in London last week meeting 'all the people who matter'. To be honest, I'm not convinced she met anyone who matters to APP's future. But if her PR advisors have convinced her it was a successful trip, then jolly good luck to them all and she will think the large bill that will land on her desk at the end of June well worth paying. Why anyone would pay for the advice APP is getting remains a mystery. In APP fantasy land, it seems all PR is good PR.&nbsp;</div> <p /> <div>Back in the real world, I sense we are approaching some sort of endgame with APP now. Something has to give. If it won't be APP themselves, then perhaps some of the cabal of useless advisors will emerge from the bunker and surrender to the overwhelming consensus that is pitted against them. Perhaps more big customers will delist APP as a supplier (it's around one a month on average at the moment). &nbsp;In an ideal world, APP will come to its senses, on both policy and communications, and admit they cannot persist in peddling their nonsense for a single day or tweet longer. I'm looking forward to seeing how things unfold in the next couple of weeks. Never mind the NGOs; &nbsp;APP's rapidly eroding customer base will not tolerate this drivel for much longer. Perhaps even some suppliers of APP greenwash will conclude it's time to walk?</div> <p /> <div>Thank you all again for your truly incredible support. It has taught me that our short time on this earth is worth spending taking the occasional risk, when you really think something matters. This does &ndash; to so many. And we must scream our support for APP from the rooftops if they finally 'get it'.That would only be fair. &nbsp;I'll report further developments in the coming days and weeks. Whether APP becomes a global leader on sustainability (the best outcome) or whether they finally lose the ability to sell product to any big brand in their key markets (the last resort) this much I do know: we will win this argument. We have no choice. So let's keep going. Oh, and thanks to so many of you, I no longer feel sick, nervous or tired.</div> </p> <p><a href="http://maydayblog.com/stunning-response-to-asia-pulp-paper-letter">Permalink</a> | <a href="http://maydayblog.com/stunning-response-to-asia-pulp-paper-letter#comment">Leave a comment&nbsp;&nbsp;&raquo;</a> </p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/MaydayMaydayMayday/~4/LxZX9uVeWvg" height="1" width="1"/> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/379244/BM_picture_Tanzania.jpg http://posterous.com/users/3snDk59BptVT Brendan May Brendan Brendan May http://maydayblog.com/stunning-response-to-asia-pulp-paper-letter Fri, 10 Jun 2011 02:36:00 -0700 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/MaydayMaydayMayday/~3/85KZeOD1Neg/a-frank-and-open-letter-to-asia-pulp-paper http://maydayblog.com/a-frank-and-open-letter-to-asia-pulp-paper <p> <p>Dear Asia Pulp &amp; Paper,</p> <p class="p1">It really is high time that you changed course. And let me pre-empt some of your now standard counter arguments to what I am going to say from the outset. The first is that I am unashamedly pro business. I have worked with very large multinational businesses (as well as NGOs) for many years. I believe business is our best (and possibly only) hope in tackling the planetary crisis.</p> <p class="p1">The second is that I understand that developing nations have different pressures from developed ones. I also understand a little of Indonesia's history and challenges. My late father was an AFP foreign correspondent in Jakarta for four years and after his expulsion by Suharto in 1972, wrote a rather celebrated book, 'The Indonesian Tragedy'. It was banned in Indonesia until Suharto's downfall and used to be smuggled in from Singapore. It has been reprinted six times in the past 30 years. So my family as a whole feels a great affinity with Indonesia. It is a wonderful and fascinating country.</p> <p class="p1">The third is that I do not believe NGOs and campaigners are always right. As you will see here, <a href="http://tiny.cc/46vvj">http://tiny.cc/46vvj</a> &nbsp;I sometimes criticise NGOs quite strongly.&nbsp;</p> <p class="p1">I have followed APP's sustainability 'journey' for many years and from many different vantage points. I find it almost incredible that all this time, as you have hemorrhaged the goodwill of customers, NGOs and media, you have continued your arrogant denial that there is any problem with your business practices. You have thrown money at public relations and advertising that has contributed absolutely nothing to your rehabilitation. You have surrounded yourself with completely the wrong advocates and made claims that are simply untrue. You have shown a blatant disregard for customers, and for the people you claim your business serves. So let's take some of these issues and tackle them head on.&nbsp;</p> <p class="p2">1.You and those who speak on your behalf claim that 'western NGOs' do not understand or care about poverty and development in Indonesia. This is&nbsp;a falsehood on two counts. The&nbsp;first is that western NGOs do, of course, care about poverty alleviation. The second, as you know very well, is there&nbsp;are plenty of Indonesian NGOs&nbsp;who&nbsp;share the collective horror at the destruction of old growth forests in which you have, for years, been&nbsp;implicated.&nbsp;</p> <p class="p2">2.You give the impression that you are a green company with a deep-rooted commitment to sustainability. If this is the case, why do you feel the&nbsp;need&nbsp;to endlessly advertise your green credentials in print and on television sets around the world? Is it a case of 'the lady doth protest too much'?&nbsp;Your&nbsp;homepage is designed to give the impression you are nothing but a large commercial conservation organisation. It is nonsense, and everybody&nbsp;knows&nbsp;it. Why don't you spend some of your marketing budget on the poverty alleviation you claim people like me do not understand?&nbsp;</p> <p class="p2">3.You cite independent reports and have been publicly attacked by some of your auditors for abusing information and exaggerating it. You have&nbsp;consistently embellished 'independent' findings about your sourcing practices, with the groups you have hired having to issue embarrassing&nbsp;clarifications about&nbsp;your&nbsp;use of data.&nbsp;</p> <p class="p2">4.You have lost countless multinational customers around the world. Are they all wrong? Do you really think they are so stupid that they simply take&nbsp;a line&nbsp;from Greenpeace and unravel whole supply chains at great resource cost to themselves? Or do you think it is in fact because in an age where&nbsp;supply&nbsp;chain resilience and security is absolutely key, you have little or nothing to offer?</p> <p class="p2">5.You deploy the arguments of front groups that have no credibility &ndash; it is a sign of true desperation that you would see Alan Oxley's efforts as&nbsp;helping&nbsp;you. How do you think this strategy has helped you over the past few years? Are customers and NGOs all falling into line now, on the back of&nbsp;this bogus neo conservative drivel that is pumped out on your behalf? Do you really think that deforestation is good because children need books,&nbsp;one of the more&nbsp;laughable themes of some of your friends in recent years?&nbsp;</p> <p class="p3">6.Now you are using a new tactic of dialogue and social media, through your nice new Rainforest Realities blog. My views on this foray into thedigital&nbsp;world are here.&nbsp;<span class="s2"><a href="http://tiny.cc/np998">http://tiny.cc/np998</a></span></p> <p class="p2">7.Your parent company, Sinar Mas, is making some progress now that Golden Agri Resources is working with The Forest Trust. So progress can&nbsp;indeed be&nbsp;made. Why don't you follow their lead?&nbsp;</p> <p class="p2">8.You think that creating an 'eco tourism' village with Habitat for Humanity and tsunami relief will help create the impression that you are a&nbsp;responsible company. They won't, and the first is a risible gesture, by the way. &nbsp;</p> <p class="p1">I have worked with companies that are far from perfect. I actually enjoy it. But where they differ from you is that they admit this, and they are involved in deep, lasting, behavioural change. They also communicate nothing on sustainability until they have actually done something. You seem to be adopting the opposite approach. Until that changes, it is clear to anyone other than the small inner circle of advisors you deploy, that your reputation and commercial viability with many of your most important customers will continue to free-fall. So many companies and NGOs want you to change, and would be the first to praise you and buy from you if you did so. I yearn to write a blog that heaps praise on your change of direction. So do many others.</p> <p class="p1">But in the APP bunker, it seems this is not understood. I suppose you will carry on as you have been. I suspect you will gradually find most PR and advertising firms close the door on you, as some have already. They won't want to be tarnished by association given many of their other clients are your former customers. WWF, Greenpeace and others are not your enemy &ndash; ask the countless companies who have moved from confrontation to collaboration with them. To pretend that this is some western NGO political agenda against poor Indonesians is not only a distortion of the truth, it is a huge insult to your customer base, not to mention the communities you purport to serve. Your communications strategy is a disaster - a global case study on how to get nearly everything wrong at the same time. That is because behind all the greenwash there are too many unanswered questions.</p> <p class="p1">As I have written before &ndash; people like me who make a living out of advising companies take something of a risk criticising brands in public. In your case, it is one I am willing to take. The world is changing, and increasingly you will find the most helpful consultants are also campaigners, who take the view that if we sit in silence in the hope of picking up a scrap of business here and there, we have already devalued the advice we have to offer. They are able to judge when to stay silent, but also when to speak out. I have spoken out, not because I want your business. I really don't. But I really want you to change, as do so many others. I write with no agenda, and on behalf of no company, NGO or publication. But it's time you listened to the clamour for progress that is all around you. If that means ridding yourself of some of the internal and external advisors who have done you such damage, then so be it. They are doing more harm to your image than you seem to realise.</p> <p class="p6">Yours sincerely,</p> <p class="p6">Brendan May</p> <p class="p7">&nbsp;</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> </p> <p><a href="http://maydayblog.com/a-frank-and-open-letter-to-asia-pulp-paper">Permalink</a> | <a href="http://maydayblog.com/a-frank-and-open-letter-to-asia-pulp-paper#comment">Leave a comment&nbsp;&nbsp;&raquo;</a> </p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/MaydayMaydayMayday/~4/85KZeOD1Neg" height="1" width="1"/> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/379244/BM_picture_Tanzania.jpg http://posterous.com/users/3snDk59BptVT Brendan May Brendan Brendan May http://maydayblog.com/a-frank-and-open-letter-to-asia-pulp-paper Mon, 06 Jun 2011 04:36:02 -0700 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/MaydayMaydayMayday/~3/mU4O1iVRJCs/without-marketeers-well-struggle http://maydayblog.com/without-marketeers-well-struggle <p> In my latest column for Ethical Corporation magazine, I look back at some of the lessons of their recent Responsible Business Summit, offer a change for next year's agenda and explain why in my view we still have a big task ahead in bringing marketeers into the sustainable business world. The column is here&nbsp;<a href="http://tiny.cc/8n5gg">http://tiny.cc/8n5gg</a> </p> <p><a href="http://maydayblog.com/without-marketeers-well-struggle">Permalink</a> | <a href="http://maydayblog.com/without-marketeers-well-struggle#comment">Leave a comment&nbsp;&nbsp;&raquo;</a> </p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/MaydayMaydayMayday/~4/mU4O1iVRJCs" height="1" width="1"/> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/379244/BM_picture_Tanzania.jpg http://posterous.com/users/3snDk59BptVT Brendan May Brendan Brendan May http://maydayblog.com/without-marketeers-well-struggle