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Abundance, affluence, luxury – words closely interconnected with the lifestyle currently promoted as desirable by the western civilization, or rather, by medium to high income people according to Gapminder and Anna Rosling Rönnlunds latest tool “Dollar Street“…

When WWF published the Living Planet Report 2016 in October 2016, it became more evident than ever that humanity’s strain on our planet has yet again increased and is now even further beyond a sustainable level. We are now over-consuming our planets renewable capacity at a rate of 164%, rapidly depleting whatever “reserves/tolerances” our planetary system might or might not have.

“The world has enough for everyone’s need, but not enough for everyone’s greed.”

- Mahatma Gandhi

When comparing WWF:s Living Planet Reports from 2014 and 2016, the most daunting insight is not that the top ten countries consumption has increased even more, with Luxembourg setting a new high at 15,8 Global Hectares per capita – almost 10 times what the planet sustainably can provide – it is that now 93 countries, representing 3.43 billion people are consuming above the global average (2,84 GHa) and more than 130 countries (4.06 billion people) consume above the available capacity (1,7 GHa/capita). Database includes a total of 187 countries.

…and the pursuit of continued growth is still the “Master Plan” for our society?

We need a new Master Plan – a more “Lagom” Lifestyle…!

The Great ACCELERATION…

The Myth: Growth at low percentage rate is no problem and can therefore continue indefinitely!

Most people have probably already seen the “planetary dashboard” – a set of 24 global indicators, charting the “Great Acceleration” in human activity from the start of the industrial revolution in 1750 to 2010, and the subsequent changes in the Earth System – e.g. greenhouse gas levels, ocean acidification, deforestation and biodiversity deterioration.
Many of these indicators show an almost exponential growth from the 1950’s and forward.

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Click picture for more detailed information.

What many people still fail to understand is that a steady (linear) growth rate becomes exponential over time, e.g. a yearly growth rate of 5% results in a doubling of the original value in just 14 years.

Nobody explains what exponential means better than the late professor Al Bartlett in this short clip – “The greatest shortcoming of the human race…”:

Prof. Bartletts celebrated one-hour lecture on “Arithmetic, Population and Energy” is an ingenious explanation of the concept “steady growth”- it can be found here.

A simple “doubling-formula”:
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An example:

Today there are according to IATA approx. 23,600 commercial airplanes in the world. With the current yearly growth rate in the flying industry of approx. 5 % continuing unabated, this means that there will be more than 47,000 in just 14 years… Passenger numbers increasing from 3,772,000,000 to 7,544,000,000…[!?]
…that’s around 2030 – a totally unsustainable future!

We must debunk the Myth and clarify that infinite growth, although the percentage of small numbers, causes exponential growth, and is eventually impossible in a finite environment.

The decoupling delusion…

The Myth; “If we only can decouple the economy from increasing carbon emissions – growth can continue unabated…”

As Dr James Ward, Dr Keri Chiveralls et al. wrote in a recent article in the EconoTimes;

The earth is a finite place – Planetary boundaries

Our economy and society ultimately depend on natural resources: land, water, material (such as metals) and energy. But some scientists have recognised that there are hard limits to the amount of these resources we can use. It is our consumption of these resources that is behind environmental problems such as extinction, pollution and climate change.

Even supposedly “green” technologies such as renewable energy require materials, land and solar exposure, and cannot grow indefinitely on this (or any) planet.

Most economic policy around the world is driven by the goal of maximising economic growth (or increase in gross domestic product – GDP). Economic growth usually means using more resources. So if we can’t keep using more and more resources, what does this mean for growth?,,,

The decoupling delusion simply props up GDP as an outdated measure of well-being.

Buying weapons, engage in war, building country dividing walls, manufacturing cars, drill for oil, consume goods as well as defensive consumption (buying security fences, weapons for private protection, private insurance etc) to protect oneself against environmental degradation – and, while some are very detrimental to human well-being, they are all crucial contributors to GDP [!?]

Humanity (and our economy) is completely dependent on
a prosperous society on a prosperous planet!

Rather than fighting and exploiting the environment, we need to recognise alternative measures of progress. In reality, there is no conflict between human progress and environmental sustainability; well-being is directly and positively connected with a healthy environment.

We need to re-couple the goals of human progress and a healthy environment for a sustainable future.

…do we need to “give up” everything?

Whenever a reduction of consumption is brought forward or is even being discussed, it immediately triggers the “Extremes” – usually creating a debate with a focus on the most diametrical opposites – creating almost insurmountable chasms between where we are today and where we need to be.

There is of course an element of “fear-of-change” in this reaction, but it also shows how a continuously repeated message; “Growth in the only solution” over time has become an unchallenged doctrine.

In reality our society is continuously changing, we just need to tweak the direction in a way that we don’t go over the edge. We need to stay within the planetary boundaries – there is simply no option!

We need to re-evaluate many things! 

The first chapter in Naomi Kleins book “This Changes Everything” is titled;

“The Right is Right”

Referring to the fact that Skeptics and Climate Change Deniers, quite often found at the “right side” of the political arena, are right about One thing!

Not about the science – which they are completely wrong about – but the political implications such radical interventions in the economy would have, transforming how we live – It Changes Everything!

This is probably also why hardcore [neo-liberal] capitalists and free-market advocates are among the first one’s to deny Human induced Climate Change – because it contradicts their basic ideologies.

But it is not about politics, it is Common Sense – “Within a finite environment, such as our planet, infinite growth and exploitation is not possible!” Eventually resources will run out, unless we can create a fully “closed-loop“.

A Lagom Lifestyle…

“…Not to little, not too much – Just right…”

Our future on this planet is dependent on a new paradigm, a new “Master Plan” – Consumerism, the way it is pursued today, is rapidly depleting and destroying the very foundation for our existence.

It is not rocket-science and it doesn’t take extreme mathematical knowledge to understand.
If our planet sustainably can provide 1,7 Global Hectares (GHa) per capita – then 1,7 GHa is what we have! Everything else is about fair distribution.

…the gluttony and egoism we see today, often disguised behind catch-words such as “America first”, “beating the benchmark” or populistic expressions to “close borders” or “stop immigration” is otherwise probably just a prelude of what is about to happen…

For decades the consumerism-mantra has been “Not because you need, but because you can!” – in an effort to convince us all that; “What you can afford is who you are…”

“…a really futile paradigm – and humans are supposed to be the smartest species on this planet…?”

Unless we can adapt, unless we can leave “fossilized consumerism behaviors” behind and reduce the footprint of our lifestyle – develop “A Lagom lifestyle” for all – we are history…!

But guess what – Change is always easier than we think…!

Of course there is always an initial hurdle to overcome, but in most cases this hurdle is only existing in our minds – and when you look back at the changes you have already done in life, a quite common reflection is; “Why was I reluctant in the beginning…”.

When you ask old people – very few regret the choices they have made in life, but quite a few regret the choices they did not make…!

Think a little about who really makes Your choices in life, is it really You or is it someone or something else telling you; “What you can afford is who you are”…! Perhaps is it trends defined by others, fashion defined by others and so on… Perhaps is it the “friendly competition” in social medias, “bragging” about “a life extraordinary”…

Is it really “must-have” or “must-buy” or is it a need defined by others…?

Re-think and Re-evaluate what is important in your life – is your life only a result of what you can buy and what you can consume…?

…Not to little, not too much – Just right…
A Lagom Lifestyle

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Illusions, straight out Lies or Facts, what‘s it going to be…? https://sorenandersson.com/illusions-or-facts-whats-it-going-to-be/ https://sorenandersson.com/illusions-or-facts-whats-it-going-to-be/#respond Mon, 27 Feb 2017 11:24:09 +0000 http://sorenandersson.com/?p=12174 With a staggering increase last fall, in the wake around the American election, a general impression is that the significance of FACTS has become more and more challenged and watered down – in favour of “alternative facts”, “perceived truth”, “opinions”, “biased interpretations” … Continue reading

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With a staggering increase last fall, in the wake around the American election, a general impression is that the significance of FACTS has become more and more challenged and watered down – in favour of “alternative facts”, “perceived truth”, “opinions”, “biased interpretations” and straight out Lies.

Populism is thriving and gaining ground – not only in the political arena but also in a more general sense. Lobbyists exploit, and often even distort, facts to promote their specific agendas.

In todays complex world, with huge challenges ahead, people are prone to go for the
“easy way out”, searching for simple answers to complicated and complex problems.

This is an extremely worrying development. Especially if these “alternative” or “perceived facts” are not disputed – if they are allowed to go unchallenged.

Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored

Aldous Huxley

In the history of mankind, it has never before been so easy to access huge amounts of facts and data. But accessibility to data alone is not equal to knowledge – data need to be fact-checked and adapted to the actual context. Data also needs to be compiled in a way that it can be correctly understood.

This is what scientific research is all about – challenging a thesis, an idea, searching for impeccable proof of concept, regardless if it supports or opposes our wishes.

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Problem is that most of us are not scientists; we don’t address data and facts served to us with the scepticism of a scientist – and we do seldom allocate the time necessary to make sure that the data are correct.

Internet gives us unprecedented opportunities to not only access data but also to compare data from various sources. However, it is also an excellent promoter of tailor-made data designed to suit anyone’s preferences or needs.

…in our interconnected society, facts seem to have become some kind of “Variable”.
A variable that apparently can be designed to suit anyone’s preferences or needs, and it doesn’t even have to be true, any allegations are OK…

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Would you go for Facts scrutinized and reviewed by an overwhelming number of acknowledged topic experts, or follow an imbecile statement…?

Ignorance feed more ignorance, which feeds more…

www.sorenandersson.comIf someone “get away” with a lie, others tend to “follow”. Following some new anti-social paradigm stating that;

It is OK to cheat and lie – it is getting caught that’s wrong…

…but in some cases a straight out lie gets
> 100,000 retweets and > 66,000 likes…(?)

Is it sincere ignorance or conscientious stupidity, or perhaps a manifestation of total indifference?

It is rather saddening that, 240 years after Thomas Jefferson – one of the American Founding Fathers, the principal author of the Declaration of Independence and later the third President of the United States – stating that…

“He who permits himself to tell a lie once, finds it much easier to do it a second and a third time till at length it becomes habitual.”

…is to be followed by someone who has made lying a habit!

Denial of proven and verified Facts is equal to…

As with scientific facts, it is valid in law that a statement must be proved beyond any reasonable doubt for it is deemed to be true.

Is what we are experiencing now a first step towards a world where truth is no longer important, where facts no longer is the foundation for decisions – where [some] people are in denial of any scientific authority or established knowledge…

www.sorenandersson.comAccording to Merriam-Websters dictionary “absence or denial of any authority or established order” is one definition of Anarchy

According to Wikipedia Anarchy is the condition of a society, entity, group of people, or a single person that rejects “hierarchy”.

In practical terms, anarchy can refer to the curtailment or abolition of traditional forms of authority – this is equally relevant when referring to scientific facts or knowledge authority.

Facts, do change over time.

Just because something seems invariable, it doesn’t mean that it will never change.
This also applies to facts. Increased knowledge and changing circumstances can also affect facts. Some facts are naturally more susceptible to change than others, such as “Laws of Nature”, but following scientific scrutiny and evidence-based research all facts are susceptible to change. Trigger point being “scientific scrutiny and evidence-based research” – not wishful thinking, personal preference or narcissism…!

www.sorenandersson.comRecently I heard a heated discussion where one of the debaters was fully convinced that the status quo of the conditions for his activities will never change. He had built his whole line of arguments based on this notion. And even though there is no doubt what so ever, that a couple of the pre-conditions he referred to, for his business, inevitably will change if humanity is to survive on this planet, he wouldn’t let that fact interfere with his line of reasoning.

This could of course be fatal to his activities/business. The list of business-failures due to inability to realize “changed conditions” is long (Facit, Kodak, Peabody…) But the real problem is if he/she is successful persuading others to ignore or misinterpret essential facts, and even worse if they are being fed straight out lies.

Facts are not equal to “opinions”, “wishes” or “preferences” – Facts are proven and verified.

Fear – a major trigger of irrational behavior…

It can never be too overstated – Fear and anxiety are triggers of irrational thoughts and behavior. There are a lot of scientific studies about this and, reading more on this topic, it is also quite clear that irrational fear and thoughts cause anxiety thus creating a “vicious circle”.

This is probably why fear mongers, even though they peddle straight out “Lies” or their own biased versions of the facts, so successfully can get people to listen – when afraid you are not always acting rationally…

www.sorenandersson.comAn example – is this fact-based picture making you more cautious when taking a bath or does it trigger something else?

Are You being Rational or Irrational…?

The opportunity to steer people through “irrational thoughts or anxiety” has been used by propagandists, populists and campaigners for centuries – The Roman empire, Hitler/Goebbels, Mussolini and now the Trump-administration are all utilizing and thriving on peoples irrational fears.

They often use prejudices setting different groups against each other and scare tactics making people anxious of “the unknown” – building on peoples fears, creating a platform for irrational thinking, allowing for them to deviate from the truth, avoid scientific facts and rational thoughts and giving them an opportunity to introduce their own rogue agendas and “alternative facts” as a simple solution – A way out…!

Fear and anxiety is also being used in marketing, although in a more “subtle” manner – consumers are made anxious about their age, their weight, their outfit – to make them use rejuvenating products, to choose “low-cal”, to fit in to specific “role-models” etc. And even though people often are aware that they are being cheated, they buy products – irrational!

An unreal world…

When mankind now faces some of the most challenging trials we’ve ever faced – Our survival on this planet – it is perhaps not surprising that populists are trying to portray a world without limits, a world where all problems can be easily swept under the carpet in anticipation that future generations are expected to solve them…

A couple of familiar quotes recently circulated in social medias illustrates what, to some people, seems to be the “trending strategy” for the way forward.
(Read more on the probable and despicable “origins” to these quotes – Here)

“You tell people a lie three times, they will believe anything. You tell people what they want to hear, play to their fantasies, and then you close the deal…”

“If you repeat a lie often enough, it becomes the truth.”

…or Not!

Humanity is at a crucial stage in its continued development.
We need fact-based rational thinking and urgent action if we want to survive on this planet – not narcissism, greed, lies, dictatorship and fear-mongering…

You can believe in the fear-mongers and liars – or you can search for indisputable, scientific facts – What’s it going to be?

Never forget:

“The secret of freedom lies in educating people, whereas the secret of tyranny is in keeping them ignorant.”

- Maximilien Robespierre

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Once You Know – There is No Way Back! https://sorenandersson.com/once-you-know-there-is-no-way-back/ https://sorenandersson.com/once-you-know-there-is-no-way-back/#respond Mon, 02 Jan 2017 14:22:17 +0000 http://sorenandersson.com/?p=12206 Once you know the facts about the precarious situation humanity and life on this planet has arrived to when it comes to Resource scarcity, Social inequality and Climate Change, there is No Way Back! The situation will not disappear by itself, the … Continue reading

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Once you know the facts about the precarious situation humanity and life on this planet has arrived to when it comes to Resource scarcity, Social inequality and Climate Change, there is No Way Back! The situation will not disappear by itself, the facts are building quickly and thanks to media and internet, knowledge is increasing rapidly both in the business world and in Public.

Your stance, actions and decisions will be Judged based on the known facts.
Delaying or avoiding to take action when the facts are available is inexcusable!

…and there is really no point delving into why we have ended up where we are. It will not change the current situation. Creating scapegoats will not solve the situation either.

Fact #1 – We are grossly overusing Planetary resources!

www.sorenandersson.comAccording to WWF:s Living Planet Report 2016, the global capacity for renewable resources is 1,7 Global hectares (Gh) per capita. The global average consumption is 2,8 Gh (164%) and almost half of all countries on the planet are today above or well above that average level.
This means that we are overusing the planet at 164% of its capacity while simultaneously doing everything we can to grow/increase this level and also to promote it to countries that have not yet reached this already unsustainable level of consumption…

Comparing the Living Planet report 2016 with the previous from 2014 shows an increased resource depletion, going from a 153% global average in 2014 to 164% in 2016 regardless of promised efforts and while more scientific facts are continuously being published…[!?]

When we know that western lifestyles and level of consumption is vastly exceeding the capacity of what the planet can sustainably support, all efforts that further increase consumption without simultaneously addressing this rapidly increasing depletion is an ethically highly questionable act.

This is of course also relevant when we [successfully] try to minimize inequality by lifting the “less fortunate” to a higher level of lifestyle. If we fail to adress the environmental footprint at the same time, we are actively pushing more and more people into an even more unsustainable lifestyle, creating all kinds of “Lock-In effects” while speeding up depletion even more…

(I’m not in any way advocating that we shouldn’t continue to fight poverty or reduce inequality. It is an absolute necessity if we want a sustainable society. But since the average consumption level already is way above what our planet can sustain, we need to simultaneously reduce consumption, starting in the “high-consuming end”…)

Fact #2 – Climate-Change is happening right now!

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Click picture for most recent graph

This years extremely high temperatures in the arctic have triggered a massive decline in sea-ice. Less ice equals less reflection of solar radiation, which equals increased heating of the planet. Higher temperature in the atmosphere and in the sea entails less ice – a vicious self-inducing circle. This winter shows an unprecedented decline, making the scientific community nervous that we are getting very close to a tipping-point which cannot be reversed – making our future even more daunting…

The facts show that every ton of CO2 being emitted to the atmosphere roughly equals the depletion of 3 m2 of Global Sea ice, which means that a “Christmas-vacation” by plane from Sweden to Thailand for a family of four equals the depletion of approx. 70 m2 of ice. Telling your kids, on the plane, how much you Love them, becomes an act of hypocrisy
…because you know that the flight is actively reducing your children’s chance to live a good future life!

So – How do we react on the facts?

Let’s take a look at some of the most common reactions… and the Best one.

Reaction #1 – “Shoot the messenger…”

This is probably one of the most common reactions when hearing facts that in any way interfere with your worldview, your plans or your lifestyle. Especially if it in any way contradicts your standpoint or, even worse, if it in any way gives you a bad conscience about your standpoint.

www.sorenandersson.comIt’s probably some kind of defense-mechanism – if you only “remove” the source, the message will disappear…

In brutal contexts the messengers are often called “dissidents” and it’s not unusual that their fate is lethal or involves some kind of “disappearance”.

In more “civilized” contexts, messengers and “whistleblowers” are silenced, removed or disavowed using various other measures.

It is sometimes amazing how quickly, highly appreciated and promoted values of democracy, openness, diversity, open discussion and “free speech” can be overruled…
if “business-as-usual” or leadership is challenged. (i.e. Edward Snowden, Julian Assange / Wikileaks, Anders Kompass, UN)

“Never do anything against conscience even if the state demands it”

Albert Einstein

www.sorenandersson.comOrganizations that shoots messengers tend to become organizations of “yes-men”, creating a culture of silence, a culture that doesn’t accept ideas from outside…
(…and sometimes not even internal ideas.)

Great innovation and organizational development is often a result from facing and taking on “challenges” – but it will only happen if the organization has a culture capable to handle it…

Read more about some of the obstacles in this Forbes-article by John Hall.

…and always remember – the messenger is not a substitute for your conscience…

Reaction #2 – “Ignore or diminish the facts…”

www.sorenandersson.comThis is also a rather common way to handle facts about resource scarcity and Climate Change – reduce their significance or ignore them altogether.

  • “…yes, I have heard about this, but these are Global problems – hardly relevant for me and/or our small organisation…”
  • “…yes, I know about this, but we have a number of other issues on our agenda right now…

Comments like these can either indicate an inability to understand the urgency/magnitude of the situation or a failure to understand the strategic implication that follows. It can of course also indicate that a person or organisation in fact is unaware of the full picture, or sometimes even reluctant to acquire the necessary information.

…Climate Change and resource scarcity are “big issues” and challenging on so many levels. They are also much more “personal” than other issues in the way our current lifestyle is being challenged. Reluctance to acknowledge this is not a very unfamiliar or even unexpected reaction…

Smoke screens & Greenwash

Another way to diminish the facts is to “pretend” that you have understood and accepted the facts. Often this is evidenced by starting to use words like “Sustainable” or “Green” in the context of various products, services or policies – without virtually any changes being made to “Business-as-usual”.

This kind of “smoke screens” or greenwash can be very deceptive. Except that it diminishes the importance of the facts, it can lull an organization into the belief that the problem is already solved – before the necessary changes have even started…

Reaction #3 – “Make it a low priority issue…”

In our very short-term oriented, hectic and complex world there are many priorities to be made. Organizations today are often very “operative”, continuously making decisions and choices. “Existential issues” that are or might be critical to the whole business-setup are not easy to fit in the agenda…
The list of companies that have failed to realize and adress disruptive changes is long – Kodak Eastman, Facit, Peabody Energy, just to mention a few.

Following a long tradition of always down-prioritizing our environment it has continued to this day – only difference is that nature now is starting to “talk back”.

www.sorenandersson.comToday’s strategies are all to often equal to a list of goals, often based on issues from the previous year/period that needs a little more focus or improvement. Sometimes goals are also adjusted to better fit with major trends in society.

Quite often these goals are incremental and in some way connected to KPI’s that are already being measured – such as increased revenue, increased sales, less complaints, higher market-share, better market-penetration, increased satisfied customer index etc.

Resource scarcity, Climate Change and Social sustainability doesn’t easily fit to this simple “strategy-model” which makes things more problematic. The complexity and time-aspects of the various issues also needs a rather different approach and much more thorough and time-consuming strategy work.

Imbalanced prioritization of Sustainability aspects

www.sorenandersson.com

For decades our society and business have been extremely biased in favor of economic output/profit. On our journey to become Sustainable we must now create a much better balance between People, Planet and Profit.

Unless you have first defined the sustainable target, the goal for our “journey” including clear boundaries, it is very easy to do the wrong prioritization, focusing on incremental changes that can be easily achieved instead of what really needs to be done.

The different aspects of Sustainability are very closely interlinked and needs to be constantly monitored  in order to achieve the goal wanted. Actions taken in either of the aspects often causes repercussions in the others. Quite often a sought for result in one aspect can be triggered in one of the others, and so on.

…once a “roadmap” towards Sustainability, including the Sustainable boundaries, is in place it is easier to keep track, helping you to make sure that none of the aspects are forgotten although they might have slightly different focus over time.

Best Reaction – “Accept the facts – focus on solutions”

If only a large chunk of  the energy and money currently being used to defend or whitewash business-as-usual and our current lifestyle, instead could be used to Transform into Sustainable solutions…

www.sorenandersson.com…isn’t it amazing how diligent we are at defending our current lifestyle, and how quickly we turn our heads away from facts about inequality, starving and suffering people, injustice, war, air pollution, acidifying oceans, extinction of species, heatwaves, increasing droughts, depletion of resources, child-labour, wildfires, increasing numbers of hurricanes and so on…   

But – the momentum is building, knowledge is spreading rapidly and Sustainability is being acknowledged as “The Crucial issue of our time” by more forums and a wide-spread array of organisations than ever – change is on the way.

…always remember…

Your stance, actions and decisions will be Judged based on the known facts.
Delaying or avoiding to take action when the facts are available is inexcusable!

No one will expect that you have all the answers. No one will expect all the solutions from you. But everyone will demand that you take action once the facts are known – and the facts are out…

“The Stone Age did not end because humans ran out of stones. It ended because it was time for a re-think about how we live…”

William McDonough

Define what your life or business looks like when it is truly Sustainable, draw the roadmap necessary to get there – and Get going…!

Share your troubles, share your doubts and share your success – be transparent – everyone likes someone that is Really trying!

www.sorenandersson.com

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What goes around, comes back around – Circular Economy… https://sorenandersson.com/what-goes-around-comes-back-around-circular-economy/ https://sorenandersson.com/what-goes-around-comes-back-around-circular-economy/#respond Mon, 17 Oct 2016 20:31:17 +0000 http://sorenandersson.com/?p=11872 Isn’t it rather simple really…? If you add too much or remove to much from a circular system, it will eventually spin out of control or break down. Nature solved this issue millions of years ago and through evolution it has … Continue reading

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Isn’t it rather simple really…? If you add too much or remove to much from a circular system, it will eventually spin out of control or break down.

Nature solved this issue millions of years ago and through evolution it has become an intrinsic web of interconnected circular systems. – Then homo sapiens “happened”, and after a brief period of being part of the cycle, some “smart-ass” found out about the inherent energy of fossilized carbon and almost immediately (…compared with the age of “nature”…) human induced disturbance to the circular systems went exponential…

Of course it is much more complex than this, and yes humanity has evolved and benefitted immensely in the mean time. But the fact remains; for the first time in the history of Earth, one single species have become so influential that it holds the power to destroy conditions for a prosperous life as we know it – to break the cycle!

From Linear to Circular…

After decades of “linear flows” of energy, resources, money etc. with far-reaching and devastating effects. Finally the virtues of circular systems, so ubiquitous in nature around us, are slowly starting to gain foothold also in man-made processes. But it is not an easy transition.

www.sorenandersson.comMost current business concepts depend heavily on the linearity of “Take-Make-Dispose”. Which in turn is dependent on an infinite abundance of natural resources and a planet that can handle all the waste and emissions produced.

But there is change underway. Just take a look at the homepage of Ellen MacArthur FoundationCradle to CradleThe Natural Step or Stockholm Resilience Centre. All of them promoting a Circular flow of money, energy and resources as a “basic condition” to keep within the planetary boundaries.

www.sorenandersson.comAnd there are plenty of success-stories around. Take a look at companies like Interface and Desso or why not take a look at how IKEA is promising that >50% of the non-renewable material used for its products will be coming from recycled sources by 2017.

Transition…

Going from Linear to Circular is a rather complex transition and it is very likely that many linear-based corporations will become “obsolete” when new set-ups, designed with circular flows as a prerequisite becomes the new standard.
But there will of course also be companies that, although their business is linear when looked at individually, becomes circular when it is included as “one part” within a larger cycle.
In certain industries it might also show that a circular flow cannot provide the mass-production levels of today, which in turn requires more structural changes to consumption-patterns etc.

www.sorenandersson.comA circular system is also more interdependent of a balanced flow throughout the cycle (-s).
To much flow at one stage in the cycle will create “excess/waste” making it “linear” again. To little flow will create a “deficit” and a need for more virgin resources being brought into the cycle. Over time this will probably level-out, but it will definitely influence the transition-process a lot.

This all calls for a much wider and transparent cooperation within corporations and between different stakeholders. It will also create a need to thoroughly screen all aspects of a process, product or service to find ways of closing the loops.

i.e: For a production process where a lot of excess-heat is generated it will be equally important to bring this heat into a “secondary” cycle, as it is to produce the product itself. If it isn’t feasible the whole process needs re-evaluation and change… If any excess or deficits are not connected to / included in other cyclic processes, no real cyclic process is actually achieved.

“Waste doesn’t exist in the Biosphere.”

The transition from linear to circular is by itself most likely not enough to make our society Sustainable. It will definitely also need a general reduction of our total consumption.
With, soon 2-3 billion more people on the planet and at the same time 2-3 billion more people entering the affluent “middle-class” there are simply not “pristine” resources enough, and the planet cannot cope with all the waste and emissions we create.

The “Start-Ups”…

In a business landscape based on linear economy and fragmented in a lot of businesses, linked together in complex networks it is not easy to convert to a circular business-model. Especially if you aren’t a big player in full control of every aspect of your supply chain.

But every journey starts with a first step

Just recently, I came across a small start-up company in Sweden; “Loop Rocks“. It could serve as an example on how new business-flows and connections are making way. Their “app” is enabling construction companies and others to interconnect B2B and exchange services in similar ways as Über or AirBnB. Increasing resource-efficiency in our society…
The app has gained widespread interest and has even been nominated as a finalist in this years Swedish CIO-Awards, in the category; Sustainable Projects.

Loop Rocks

www.sorenandersson.comLoop Rocks is an app for smart management of re-usable construction surplus; rocks, soil, gravel and aggregate. Handling and transporting these masses are today often done in costly and complex flows. This is something Loop Rocks wants to change. Instead of buying new, virgin masses, construction sites can get cheaper or even free masses from another site close by with a surplus. And the site with the surplus have easy disposal of their masses. Loop Rocks is a platform for, supply and demand ads as well as ads for transportation needs. Different types of stakeholders, such as quarries, terminals, recycling centers and landfills will also be visualized in the service. Loop Rocks hopes to be smarter when it comes to management of masses.”

...about Loop Rocks:
Where: Sweden, mainly focused on the Stockholm area
What: Supply, demand and transport ads as well as the location of different sites
Number of users: currently more than 600.

This Start-up is not “circular economy” by itself. But it helps to facilitate a flow where someone’s waste becomes another one’s resource – closing the cycle.

The Obfuscators…

But there are also organizations obfuscating the picture in many ways. For instance; claiming that incineration of excess-flows somehow reduces the impact of a linear flow…(?)

Some organizations actually claim that incinerating waste relieves society of a “problem” and therefore primary-energy coming through the linear resource flow should be valued at “0” when compared to other primary energy-sources used to fuel their incinerators… Because “these products were made for another purpose (not energy) to start with”.
When comparing sources for primary-energy this “0” valuation gives waste a huge advantage to other fuels used directly to fuel the incinerators. Which indirectly promotes and incentivizes a continued linear resource flow to provide enough “fuel”…

This claim could be exemplified; i.e. look at wooden pallets. After production, they are used in a “deposit-system” and are circulated a number of times by various transport companies before they reach end-of life. – They still consist of wood, with a primary-energy value similar to pristine wood. But somehow these companies claim that the primary-energy value is now “0” because “they have served another purpose”…(?)

www.sorenandersson.comIn my old schoolbook one of the LAWS of nature is that energy cannot be created or destroyed. It can only be transformed between different forms…

A law of nature cannot be changed just because it suits a specific business-setup better. To State that all primary-energy used to make a product should be theoretically “allocated” to its first primary use and once it reaches end-of-life and waste-status the “built-in/accumulated” primary-energy should be accounted as “0” is simply not true. The energy is still present, otherwise there would be no point in burning waste…

This approach works contradictory to a circular flow. Whitewashing incineration as some kind of “miracle-solution” – pretending that a linear flow is something it definitely isn’t.
In a circular flow waste is not existing

Transition to a Circular Technosphere in balance with the Biosphere is the way forward, and it is Urgent!

 

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Sustainable Development Goals – the most important agenda ever! https://sorenandersson.com/sustainable-development-goals-the-most-important-agenda-ever/ https://sorenandersson.com/sustainable-development-goals-the-most-important-agenda-ever/#respond Tue, 12 Jul 2016 19:28:01 +0000 http://sorenandersson.com/?p=11758   “We are in deep shit!” – these words from a student after I had presented an outspoken key-note about Sustainability and Climate Change made me wonder why we constantly are reminded not to be to open or to specific … Continue reading

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We are in deep shit!” – these words from a student after I had presented an outspoken key-note about Sustainability and Climate Change made me wonder why we constantly are reminded not to be to open or to specific about Climate Change and the enormous challenges we are up for – “people might take offense, or get a bad conscience”

Every other big and urgent issue like migration, the war in Syria, ISIS, Panama-papers, equal sexual rights, shootings etc. is perfectly OK to talk about, but not Climate Change…

Is it that we are a bit ashamed of what we have accomplished? Is it that we are caught with our “pants down” by the generations that will suffer the consequences of our behavior, or is it simply that we really don’t know what to do about it.

“Nothing strengthens authority as much as silence!”

Leonardo da Vinci

Although silence is a very weak form of consensus, tacit acceptance procedures are frequently used. It means that if you don’t comment, you agree.

If we don’t dare to openly talk about Climate Change with whatever inconvenience it might bring, business-as-usual will prevail and that will definitely put an end to life as we know it.

Wikipedia on “Silence and Consensus”:
“Consensus can be presumed to exist until voiced disagreement becomes evident.”

Evolution have told us that we should learn and build from the knowledge of previous generations. But when it turns out that the “revered” lifestyle of current and previous generations is about to destroy the foundation for our very existence…
…We shouldn’t talk about it…??

Where are all the wise words and quotes about “Learning from your mistakes”, “Only people that sleep makes no mistakes” and so on… it is time to use them!

We really need to talk about it – and learn!

A sense of urgency…

We have all been told the “Boiling frog story” – how a frog can be boiled if it is put in cold water which is then gradually heated. While if you put the frog in boiling water it will immediately jump out. And although contemporary biologists states that the premise is false, the metaphor is still valid.

www.sorenandersson.comAnother similar metaphor is the “Sorites paradox” – how many grains of sand can you remove from a heap and still call it a heap…

The moral of these metaphors is that slow change hardly get us to react. We just adapt slightly and move on with business-as-usual.

Today we need urgent and comprehensive change to deal with Climate change – starting with a pan filled with cold water is not the right response!

In the same way; making small convenient adjustments on Business-as-usual isn’t the way forward either – the heap of urgent issues is still there. – We need transformation!

…but most of all, we don’t need more “silence”!

Compliant or Inspired…

Humans tend to be “slow-starters” or perhaps you can call it “lazy” – most of us are rather unwilling to change. (…even if many of us like to think of ourselves as “change-willing”, when asked)

www.sorenandersson.comOften it boils down to two alternatives. Either you become so inspired about something new that you embrace change.
Or an issue becomes so urgent that there is literally no other alternative then to rapidly change and comply with the new demands.

If you ask me personally, I think it is so much more fun and much more rewarding to act on inspiration then it is “to comply with” …

And there is one more thing – while compliance only can be executed until its done, Inspiration has No limit!

Read more on this topic in this previous post: “Inspiration has No Limits…!

The Sustainable Development Goals

Now there is an inspiring agenda with No limits available, an agenda with tough challenges but also with extreme opportunities and rewards.

It was agreed on September 25th 2015, by 193 countries from all corners of the world, it doesn’t care about religious faith, political opinion, sexual orientation, gender or complexion, and it is available for all.

www.sorenandersson.com

The SDG includes 17 Goals with 169 Targets, to start with – All it takes is that we talk
about it, get inspired and take action.

The SDG have been around for almost a year now but are still quite unknown in our society.
They deserve better – there is also a lot of information, tools and resources available – just click the picture above and learn more about them.

www.sorenandersson.com”- If you go out on the street, it is hardly a soul that knows what the Sustainable Development Goals are. Although it is the main agenda in the world to secure our long-term prosperity. ”

Johan Rockström / Professor Stockholm Resilience Centre

Listen to Johans “summer-pod” –  HERE or HÄR(SWE)

Don’t hesitate, stop the “hush-hush” – tell everyone, discuss it with people and Get going!

Let’s make SDG the Megatrend that REALLY matters!

PS: …don’t just sit around and wait to see what you eventually have to comply with – then you’ll miss out on the fun and inspiring part!

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Inequality didn’t just happen… It was Created! https://sorenandersson.com/inequality-didnt-just-happen/ https://sorenandersson.com/inequality-didnt-just-happen/#respond Thu, 18 Feb 2016 10:21:46 +0000 http://sorenandersson.com/?p=11246 …replacing “Old ways” with similarly flawed “New ways” isn’t going to help, is it…? Two recent sets of data: Since the Great Recession in 2008, Global Debt has increased by $57 trillion, outpacing world GDP growth, and is with $199 Trillion … Continue reading

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replacing “Old ways” with similarly flawed “New ways” isn’t going to help, is it…?

Two recent sets of data:

www.sorenandersson.comSince the Great Recession in 2008, Global Debt has increased by $57 trillion, outpacing world GDP growth, and is with $199 Trillion now at approx. 270% as a share of GDP.
(Source: McKinsey & CotheGuardian)

www.sorenandersson.comGlobal Wealth reached 250 trillion US dollars in 2015, slightly less than a year earlier, due to adverse exchange rate movements. Wealth is now at approx. 340% as a share of GDP
(Source: Credit Suisse)

Simple Math:

www.sorenandersson.com

So – if we subtract the Global Debt from the Global Wealth, there will still be $51 trillion left, corresponding to approx. 69% as a share of world GDP. Distributed equally on our current population of approx. 7,400,000,000 this corresponds to a wealth of $6,891 (€6,323) per every single human being on this planet…

This would place every single individual at a wealth-level, more than double of what today is required to be part of the “wealthiest half” of the world’s adult population – > $3,210 once debts have been subtracted – according to Credit Suisse Global Wealth in 2015 and the “Global Wealth Report 2015“.

Well – most likely this won’t happen any day soon, instead our economic systems are currently designed to continuously distribute and concentrate wealth to the top 1% – creating more and more economic inequality as we speak…

Economic Inequality – The “mother” of all Ponzi Schemes…?

Ponzi Scheme… where the operator, an individual or organization, pays returns to its investors from new capital paid to the operators by new investors, rather than from profit earned by the operator…

www.sorenandersson.comDebt is currently increasing faster than the GDP, while at the same time corporations report significant profits and pay high returns to shareholders – could this be an indication that these returns might originate from new capital (debt) and “inflated values” rather than from earned real profits.

This current version of extremely extractive economy will eventually reach a point when the “base levels” of the pyramid, due to debt burden and stagnating wages, no longer can afford to “feed” the top layers, with an overwhelming risk of collapse…

Corporations and the wealthy in our society are continuously pursuing every opportunity to avoid paying taxes. (taxes meant to support our society) Multinational corporations are continously outsourcing production etc. to low-cost, low-tax and minimum regulation locations in a “low-cost” spiral pushing wages to, and below, minimum levels globally.
This inevitably leads to increased lending; by countries (due to lack of tax revenue) to afford reforms and keep reasonable services in society;  by “ordinary” people (due to stagnating wage-levels) to afford a “western” lifestyle…

Extreme Wealth accumulation

According to a study by Oxfam International, in 2010 the top 388 richest people owned as much wealth as the poorest half of the world’s population—a whopping 3.6 billion people. By 2014, this number was down to 85 people and by 2015, 62 people. Oxfam claims that, if this trend continues, by the end of 2016 the top 1 percent will own more wealth than everyone else in the world combined. At the same time, according to Oxfam, the extremely wealthy are also extremely efficient in dodging taxes, now hiding an estimated $7.6 trillion in offshore tax-havens.

But Why?

Why is this rapidly increasing concentration at the top and increasing malaise everywhere else happening? Most common explanation for today’s situation is: the rise of technology which makes many jobs obsolete; and increasing globalization which puts incredible pressures on companies to lower wages and outsource jobs to compete against low-wage workers around the world.
and the already fierce push for globalization is intensifying, see previous article – Here

The economic inequality didn’t just happen – it was created – primarily through an economic belief that, intentionally or not, serves to concentrate wealth at the top by extracting it from everywhere else.
www.sorenandersson.com

This flawed belief system is called variously Neoliberalism, Reaganomics, Thatcherism, the Chicago School and trickle-down economics.

It is easily recognized by its signature ideas: deregulation; privatization; cut taxes on the rich; roll back environmental protections; eliminate unions; increase globalization; and impose austerity on the public.

The theories from the Chicago School and F. A. Hayek, Milton Friedman et al, gained interest in the 1960s and have influenced government policies in many countries ever since, especially during the 1980s. Friedman was an advisor to both Republican U.S. President Ronald Reagan and Conservative British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.
His political philosophy praised enthusiastically the “virtues” of a free market economic system with minimal intervention. Read more about a Free market at “ANY” price – Here

And then we add a large chunk of “Crony Capitalism”…

When you read about corruption, the map of perceived corruption (below) from Transparency International is always a good place to start. It gives a good overview of corruption levels around the world. But one thing is missing – The legal Corruption.

www.sorenandersson.com

CLICK to visit interactive map on Transparency International

Many countries and organizations allow for “stakeholders” to economically support or in other ways sponsor their politics and related activities in various legal ways [??]
Such setups do not only distort the Democratic basics of “One person = One vote”, it also creates a largely biased situation in favor of the economically strong – and thereby systematically increases Inequality.

Lobbyism

Politicians and other persons in power are today continuously under pressure by lobbyists with vested interests and agendas to influence the process in favor of their “partners”. In this process, money is of extreme importance – the more money – the more lobbyists, the more lawyers, the more “biased” research, the more PR, the more media-time, the more lavish events etc. can be launched.

An example of unbalanced/unequal Lobbying from a previous Blogg-post.

www.sorenandersson.comBetween January 2012 and February 2014, as TTIP discussions began, the Commission’s trade department (DG Trade) had 597 behind-closed-door meetings with lobbyists to discuss the negotiations, according to internal Commission files obtained by research group Corporate Europe Observatory (CEO). There were 528 meetings (88 %) with business lobbyists while only 53 (9 %) were with groups such as trade unions and NGOs. The remainder (16) were with other parties such as public institutions and academics.

To even suggest that politicians not are influenced by this flood of lobbying, that they will not be “flattered” by so much attention or that they are “immune” to bribery and “special treatment”, is naive.
If you then ad the fact that most politicians already are part of “the wealthy sector” it includes all the signature features of a Crony Capitalism…

The U.S. Political system – the archetype for Legal Cronyism?!

In a recent article in Politico is described how the 100 biggest donors [Billionaires] so far have spent $195 million trying to influence the 2016 U.S. presidential election – more than the $155 million spent by the 2 million smallest donors combined – and then the notorious Koch brothers were nowhere on Politico’s list. Although they reportedly plan to spend nearly $900 million on the presidential race — more than either the Republican or Democratic parties

cronyism-out-of-control…amazing – a couple of extremely wealthy reactionist brothers who according to a recent article: “…signaled last week that it is expanding its financial and organizational support for a coalition of anti-government activists and militants…” are according to U.S. law, legally allowed to economically support [Buy] a presidential candidate of their liking…

If you haven’t watched it before, take a look at the TED-Talk by Lawrence Lessig on “Lesterland” – apparently “One man = One vote” is only valid in the U.S. once the wealthy have had their saying…

…isn’t it ridiculous to name a country, where only wealthy people supported by other wealthy people can become a president, as “democratic”… when it in reality is a Plutocracy?

The resemblance to another large country, with an allegedly radically different [communist] political system, where a small group of politicians together with a group of wealthy people (Oligarchs) are in control, while the rest of the citizens have no or very little influence and wealth, is appalling…

The Ugly truth

The really ugly truth about political Cronyism is that it quickly becomes a self-generating “Perpetuum Mobile”, privileges are easy to get used to – The only people with authority to change the system are the people currently “in power”, enjoying their privileges…

Four Horsemen…

If you aren’t among the > 4,1 million people who have already seen it, spend some time watching this documentary about our flawed economic model – its time well spent!

…didn’t you believe it was this bad – remember that the film was launched in 2013 – things have actually become much, much worse…

Equality [versus] Equity…

Equality can be “interpreted” in many ways. Quite often this is cause for discussions and aggravation. It is also often integrated together with other political statements and visions, which sometimes blur things up.

“…policies that stress fairness as uniform distribution tend to succeed because they appear to entitle everyone; and, thus, reinforce most peoples dominant construction of fairness as equality. Conversely, policies aiming to achieve equity face recurring challenges as unfair…”

It is not that simple, circumstances vary a lot, as do the “placement” of the threshold and therefore “Equality” through uniform distribution only works if ALL other circumstances are the same.

www.sorenandersson.com

There is probably no such thing as absolute equality, it is probably not even a “State” we should strive for. A balance between “Sameness” and “Fairness” while eliminating the extremes is more likely the Role Model we should aim for.

To read more about how a sustainable Role Model could be obtained and to take a look at Prof. Emeritus, Richard Wilkinsons TED-speech, explaining the hard data on economic inequality and how it really effects on health, lifespan and even such basic values as trust. – follow this LINK to a previous post.

Inequality – Conclusion…

It is high time that we replace the greedy and flawed ideas of Neoliberalism with something else, or to use a quote by Milton Friedman:

“…The only relevant test of the validity of a hypothesis
is comparison of prediction with experience…”

The hypothesis of unbridled, unregulated capitalism and an unconstrained Free Market – to create or even support a good society for all – failed the Test!

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DEMOCRACY for sale – Free Trade Agreements… https://sorenandersson.com/democracy-for-sale/ https://sorenandersson.com/democracy-for-sale/#respond Sun, 31 Jan 2016 22:18:53 +0000 http://sorenandersson.com/?p=11035 …I always thought it spelled DEMOCRACY, but apparently it spells “DEMOCRAZY“… I am quite fond of a system where all people have an equal opportunity to get their voice heard, a system of government in which all the people of a state or … Continue reading

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…I always thought it spelled DEMOCRACY, but apparently it spells “DEMOCRAZY“…

I am quite fond of a system where all people have an equal opportunity to get their voice heard, a system of government in which all the people of a state or polity are involved in making decisions about its affairs – Democracy.

But for quite some time now Democracy is deeply threatened by various forms of dictatorship, oligarchy, populism and last but definitely not least, Capitalism.

www.sorenandersson.comDemocracy – at its best…!

Recently we all experienced what Democracy can achieve, when the wast majority of countries on this planet through negotiations agreed; first on a set of Global Goals for Sustainable Development and then the Paris Agreement, a global agreement on the reduction of Climate Change.

For the People by the People!

These agreements where made by countries from all over the world, representing all different political systems, all different ethnicities and all religious communities, united in the belief that together we can solve the challenges ahead.

However, the basic and unchangeable rule of Democracy – “One Human = One Vote” – is more and more being distorted to “One Dollar/Euro = One vote“, by organisations, corporations and wealthy people.

This Sell-out of Democracy comes in many shapes and is not seldom disguised as “top-level” Economic forums or hidden in secretive “Free” Trade agreements… 

Davos, World Economic Forum WEF16

www.sorenandersson.comI heard someone, attending the WEF16 in Davos, explaining in an interview, that one of the reason he went there was that it was an opportunity to efficiently have meetings with a lot of “people that matters” in a short time.

Isn’t this in a way the Essence of the problem we are facing? – the Inequality and the amassment of wealth and power to a very small amount of people. Small enough to gather for a few days at a convention centre in a small exclusive town in Switzerland.

According to a recent report from OxfamIn 2015, just 62 individuals had the same wealth as 3.6 billion people – the bottom half of humanity. This figure is down from 388 individuals as recently as 2010.” And while the wealth of the richest 62 people has risen by 44% in the five years since 2010, the wealth of the bottom half fell by 41% in the same period.

The lack of Democracy, “One human – One vote” is in a way “manifested in Davos, when a small (0,0003 % of total global population, and 82% male) and extremely wealthy elite is given exclusive privileges and special access to politicians and various world leaders while the vast majority of humanity isn’t even represented.

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Picture: pwc

Isn’t it almost “absurd” that such an extreme minority is given so much attention, by democratically elected leaders and “objective, unbiased” media…
When considering the role many of these people undoubtedly have played in creating and further increasing the Inequality and Climate dilemma, it becomes even more “absurd”.

And it becomes even more “absurd” when a survey among 1400 CEO:s around the world lists “over-regulation” as the biggest threat to business (by 79% of CEOs), followed by geopolitical uncertainty (74%) and other key threats including cyber attacks (61%).
In contrast, climate change and environmental damage was mentioned as a threat to business growth by just 50% of CEOs.

The findings were similar to a separate survey of 13,000 business leaders produced by the World Economic Forum (WEF). It also found a relative absence of concern about climate change and environmental risk amongst business leaders.

By contrast, a wider survey of economists, academics and civil society also produced by the WEF listed climate change as the biggest potential threat to the global economy in 2016.

“Earth provides enough to satisfy every man’s need, but not every man’s Greed”

Mahatma Gandhi

should the continued Greed and “Denialism” from 0,0003 % of the global population count before everybody else’s concern – what about Democracy?

Free Trade

…anything that in any way could inflict limitations or disturbance to Global Free Trade, such as regulations or taxation on aviation and shipping, or a global price on CO2, have been meticulously erased from the Paris Agreement… Links to: Reuters, Independent, The Telegraph, World Maritime News, KevinAndersson.info

Looking Back…

www.sorenandersson.comRecently I read some articles about the development of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, IPCC and events from the first meeting in Rio, the Earth Summit, the Agenda 21, Kyoto protocol etc. up to the recent COP 21 in Paris.

One thing that baffles me is that parallel to this long chain of events, aiming for a more Sustainable society and for Humanity to be good stewards of our planet, almost all our current free trade agreements have been negotiated and agreed – and [almost] none of them include any kind of provision to take care of our Climate or to economize with the resources of our planet.

On the contrary, most free trade agreements are solely focusing on removing all trade barriers, specifically economic barriers, regardless of environmental consequences.

World Trade Organisation

The World Trade Organisation, WTO was established at the Marrakesh ministerial meeting in April 1994 and officially launched on 1 January 1995 – Three years after the Earth Summit…

www.sorenandersson.comPreamble to the WTO Agreement:
“Trade and economic endeavor should be conducted with a view to raising standards of living, ensuring full employment and a large and steadily growing volume of real income and effective demand, and expanding the production of and trade in goods and services,
while allowing for the optimal use of the world’s resources in accordance with the objective of sustainable development, seeking both to protect and preserve the environment and to enhance the means for doing so in a manner consistent with
respective needs and concerns at different levels of economic development.”

What happened with the second part of the WTO agreement, the text highlighted in red?

When browsing through the WTO:s own “retroperspective“, over its 20 years of existence, except from a reference to the above preamble and a short quote from a speech by Nelson Mandela in May 1998, Environment and Sustainability is hardly even mentioned – it is solely about economics, de-regulation, globalization and elimination of any trade-restrictions…

And even today if you look at WTO:s webpage “What we stand for“, the following is stated in relation to the environment.

Protect the environment
“The WTO’s agreements permit members to take measures to protect not only the environment but also public health, animal health and plant health. However, these measures must be applied in the same way to both national and foreign businesses. In other words, members must not use environmental protection measures as a means of disguising protectionist policies.”

…isn’t this only a veiled way to “suggest” that a Country’s sovereignty should not be executed if it inflicts with trade – what about Democracy?

TTIP & TPP versus Democracy…

There are numerous trade-agreements already in existence around the worldList!

For a number of years very secretive negotiations have been going on to establish new far-reaching trade-agreements, the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP).

www.sorenandersson.comTTIP & TPP is about much more than trade: the involved parties have already abolished or reduced most of the duties, therefore the TTIP & TPP is mainly focusing on rectifying and standardizing rules, laws, labeling- and approval procedures. In short, TTIP & TPP aims to remove what the industry calls “technical barriers”.

to reduce laws and rules that have evolved over years following democratic procedures in both national and international systems into a mere “technical barrier” for trade, is not only disrespectful. It demonstrates contempt of the democratic processes.   

Agreements built for Large Corporations not for Citizens…

The negotiations have been carried out with strict confidentiality from the public, allowing for no transparency what so ever. The only information available about the details of the agreement comes from leaked documents.

Politicians are only allowed to read documents relating to TTIP in a secure European Parliament restricted reading room. They are also required to sign a 14-page document ultimately promising not to share the information with their constituents.

Green MEP Ms Scott Cato described the experience earlier this year comparing it to “a scene from a James Bond film”. She said: “I don’t feel what I was granted access to contained the important details. Key information seems to have been retracted; there was little of interest. But what I did see did not leave me with any sense of reassurance, either that the process of negotiating this trade deal is democratic, or that the negotiators are operating on behalf of citizens. It reconfirmed that this is a corporate discussion, not a democratic one.

Ms Scott Cato also said: “As an MEP I’m party to the transatlantic trade deal’s inner workings. I’m sworn to secrecy, but this much I can say: TTIP is undemocratic

At the same time, industry lobbyists and large corporations have been given almost free access to the negotiators. And just recently the Guardian revealed in an article that the EU is likely to have given Fossil fuel giant Exxon exclusive access to its confidential negotiating strategies…!

www.sorenandersson.comBetween January 2012 and February 2014, as TTIP discussions began, the Commission’s trade department (DG Trade) had 597 behind-closed-door meetings with lobbyists to discuss the negotiations, according to internal Commission files obtained by research group Corporate Europe Observatory (CEO). There were 528 meetings (88 %) with business lobbyists while only 53 (9 %) were with groups such as trade unions and NGOs. The remainder (16) were with other parties such as public institutions and academics.

Corruption
…any risk of corruption when negotiating the world most extensive trade agreements?

On Thursday (Jan 21) the Japanese minister, Akira Amari, who was the country’s top negotiator for the huge trans-Pacific trade deal (TPP) was accused of corruption.
This article from the Guardian shows how much corporations paid US senators to fast-track the TPP bill through the US congress – a transparently legal corrupt behavior, efficiently distorting democracy.

Watch this short film from “Sum of Us” explaining more about the TTIP:

…and this one from Attac.org:

Investor-State Dispute Settlements (ISDS)

This is probably the most discussed part of the proposed Trade Agreements, and definitely a huge threat on Democracy – a dispute settlement system allowing foreign investors to sue entire nations in special “secretive” arbitral tribunals for the alleged expropriation of future profits through changes in laws or regulations.

www.sorenandersson.com

Click for: Sen. Elisabeth Warren Article

One of the key problems with ISDS is that it creates a supranational “court” whose power to impose huge fines can have a chilling effect on the introduction of new legislation.
Companies can use the threat of ISDS claims to discourage governments from introducing laws or regulations that might reduce corporate profits. That’s an indirect way in which TTIP is likely to undermine national sovereignty.
But there’s another aspect of the proposed agreement that is explicitly designed to allow EU and US corporations to influence – and block – new laws… if they in any way are ” a barrier to trade”.

Notably, only foreign investors can sue states under investment treaties, because states are the parties to the treaty, and only states can be held liable to pay damages for breach of the treaty. States have no corresponding right to bring an original claim against a foreign investor under such treaties, again because investors are not parties to the treaty and therefore cannot be in breach of it…[?]

Read more about the “investors’ super-rights in EU trade deals” – here, and more on the “regulatory cooperation” – here.

The use of ISDS-systems has increased significantly in recent years, and the trend is continuing. But since the transparency is very limited UNCTAD calculates that the correct number of cases is significantly greater then what is officially revealed .

In a recent study professor Gus van Harten and lawyer Pavel Malysheusk have looked at all the known and publicly available ISDS cases that led to a judgment until spring 2015. The trend is clear – there are large companies (revenue over $ 1 billion annually), and especially the largest companies (rev. 10 billion), which benefit financially from the ISDS. It is noteworthy that the largest companies win far more cases than all the others using the system (70.8% vs. average 42.2% of the cases examined). One conclusion of the study is also that the ISDS industry (arbitration, etc.) “unsurprisingly” obtains considerable revenue from the system.

A couple of examples of recent investor-state disputes:

TransCanada sues USA over Keystone pipeline

www.sorenandersson.comTransCanada Corp sued the U.S government on Wednesday, Jan 6th, to reverse President Barack Obama’s rejection of the Keystone XL pipeline, and also plans to seek $15 billion in damages from a trade tribunal. – Read more.

Vattenfall sues Germany over the Nuclear Decommissioning

www.sorenandersson.comEven before we have an agreement by the European Community commissioners over the appalling anti-democracy Transatlantic Trade And Investment Partnership (TTIP), energy company Vattenfall is suing Germany for phasing out nuclear power and replacing it with renewables. In a secret court, the company is demanding a whopping 4.7 billion Euros in compensation. – Read more.

DEMOCRACY is Not for Sale!

From the CEO:s concern that “over-regulation” is the biggest threat for future business to the secretive negotiations to establish agreements explicitly designed to allow EU and US corporations to influence – and block – new laws… if they in any way are ” a barrier to trade” and arbitral tribunals with the ability to sue countries… if new rules in any way could reduce corporate profits, it is blatantly clear that the extremely wealthy together with multinational corporations seek to disarm democracy in their favor.

Following decades of unabated pressure, decades where the corporate world have discarded their social responsibility it is now attacking the foundation of our Democracy, the basic and unchangeable rule – “One Human = One Vote” trying to replace it with “One Dollar/Euro = One vote“…

We cannot let that happen!

“FREEDOM and DEMOCRACY are dreams
you never give up”

- Aung San Suu Kyi

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Aviation – a Climate Change villain… https://sorenandersson.com/aviation-a-climate-change-villain/ https://sorenandersson.com/aviation-a-climate-change-villain/#respond Mon, 18 Jan 2016 20:04:51 +0000 http://sorenandersson.com/?p=10801 With the new Sustainable Global Goals and a fresh Paris Agreement we have almost 200 countries (“out of 206”) in support of an ambitious agenda to save this planet. Now it’s up to many industries, organizations and corporations to show … Continue reading

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With the new Sustainable Global Goals and a fresh Paris Agreement we have almost 200 countries (“out of 206”) in support of an ambitious agenda to save this planet.

Now it’s up to many industries, organizations and corporations to show where they stand.
In support of this democratically decided agenda or opposing it…

…and of course to show whether they are going to Act on it – to help make it happen – or choose just to “vaguely” express their approval and then continue Business-as-usual…

“If you really want to do something, you’ll find a way.
If you don’t, you’ll find an excuse…”

Let’s take a look at an industry that is a master at “blowing smoke” – the Aviation-industry.

Years of evasion…

www.sorenandersson.comFor years (decades) the aviation-industry have evaded real action to mitigate emissions while pursuing business-as-usual. With keen assistance and lobbying from their trade organization IATA (International Air Transport Association) and from ICAO (International Civil Aviation Organization).

If treated as an individual country, global aviation already would join the list of Top 10 emitters, accounting for five per cent of global warming gases and with emissions having grown twice as fast as the world’s economy, during this century.

Unchecked – as the Paris Agreement still permits – the global aviation sector together with international shipping sector could end up by 2050 contributing almost 40 per cent of total world greenhouse gas emissions.

Any reference to international transport within the final text of the Paris-Agreement seems to have been removed due to fears expressed that ambitious reduction objectives in the transport sector would deter trade growth. Depressingly such concerns seem to have been a regular incubus, affecting all such discussions for the past 25 years or more…

All Talk, almost No Walk…

www.sorenandersson.com

IATA states that they represent nearly 260 airlines comprising 83% of all global air traffic.

ICAO, the UN specialized agency, state that they work with the Chicago Convention’s 191 Member States and industry groups to reach consensus on international civil aviation policies in support of a safe, efficient, secure, economically sustainable and environmentally responsible civil aviation sector.

These organisations, representing the majority of stakeholders within the aviation industry, could be a major “change-maker”, but in reality their consensus-approach results in a “Giant with clay feet” when it comes to sustainability – A reactionary body where no one takes the lead unless everybody follows, where everything have to be standardized for all to follow, where the exemption of commercial air fuels from tax dating from 1944[!] is regarded as a non-negotiable privilege and where “stalling” is not only an aeronautic expression but also seems to be the aviation industry’s main strategic approach…

www.sorenandersson.comAn Egocentric Industry
When studying the home pages of both organizations and reading their material it is easy to get the notion that their “version” of Sustainability is totally self-centered, that Sustainable aviation is All about keeping the aviation industry and its economy intact and resilient irrespective of the external “threats” that may emerge…

… rather than saving the planet, even if it means that the aviation industry most likely needs to “shrink” considerably…!

Empty promises…?

In an open letter to governments, co-signed by a number of major stakeholders within the aviation sector, the following is stated:

As leaders in the aviation industry and the global business community and as the first global transport sector to set carbon-reduction goals, we have been engaged in impressive cross-sectoral climate action. Our ambitious goals are to:

  1. Improve the fuel efficiency of the world fleet by an average 1.5% per annum.
  2. Stabilise net aviation CO2 emissions at 2020 levels through carbon-neutral growth.
  3. Halve aviation’s net CO2 emissions by 2050, compared with a 2005 baseline.

Lets take a closer look at these allegedly “ambitious and impressive” goals…

Goal 1 – Improve the fuel efficiency…

The aviation industry is among the fastest growing industries on the planet with average growth-rates of >5% per annum. This means that improving the fuel efficiency with 1.5-2% per annum is immediately surpassed by increase in traffic, resulting in very high growth-rates also in emissions.

statistic_id193533_global-air-traffic---annual-growth-of-passenger-demand-2005-2015

…and then all emissions induced indirectly by aviation from airport-transfers, car-travel to- and from airports, airplane-production and all other related services as well as from other ventures encouraged and promoted by increased aviation are of course not included…

Goal 2 – Stabilise net aviation CO2 emissions through carbon-neutral growth…

In a scenario where we have agreed on Global Climate measures and Global goals. (like Now) How is an emission trading system going to make it possible for the Aviation Industry to Grow in a Carbon-neutral manner…?

  • carbon-offsetting-cartoonAll countries already have agendas to reduce their total GHG-emissions, which in principal means that all new, and existing energy-plants, factories, housing etc have to be built or re-built with low or non-emission techniques.
  • We are already at or beyond the boundary of allowable GHG-emissions, meaning that we must reduce the total emissions, not continue to increase them.

Where is the Aviation industry going to buy emissions rights, to cover for their continued growth?

Any kind of emissions-trading scheme not only need to offset the aviation industry’s emissions, it must also simultaneously reduce the Total Global emissions.
It has to be an offset “on top of” all reductions countries already have promised to do and will do anyway… And it also has to be sustainable over time, not increasing “second-hand” emissions, or promoting behaviors that increase the total overall emissions.

… which country or industry is going to not only meet the goals set by the Paris accord but also out-perform the goals to such extent that they can also “include” the aviation industry’s extensive and rapidly increasing emissions and still meet the goals…?

To propose “Stabilized” CO2-emissions while continuing to grow the Aviation industry demonstrates serious negligence with regard to Climate Change. Lulling stakeholders and our society into some kind of fairytale where at some point in the future a fairy eventually is supposed to turn up with a “magic wand” and make all things right.

…a way for the guilty to pay for absolution rather than changing their behaviour…

- George Monbiot "Selling Indulgences"

…or as Kevin Anderson, deputy director of the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research at the University of Manchester, UK, wrote in an 2012 article in “Nature” about “The Inconvenient truth of carbon offsets” :

Offsetting, on all scales, weakens present-day drivers for change and reduces innovation towards a lower-carbon future. It militates against market signals to improve low-carbon travel and video-conference technologies, while encouraging investment in capital-intensive airports and new aircraft, along with roads, ports and fossil-fuel power stations.

Goal 3 – Halve aviation’s net CO2 emissions…

WizardThe Paris accord with a goal of max +1,5 °C temperature increase means in reality a zero fossil fuel society at the latest around 2030 to 2050.  Promoting a goal to Halve emissions by 2050, is an act of deliberate Misdirection and Green-Wash!
It could actually be regarded as a fairly blatant way of saying that the aviation industry has no intention to support or even help reaching the 1.5-degree target …

Dodging and stalling real action while “promising” a future tech-fix is not only deceitful, it also leads our whole society into a Lock-In. Creating even more Social behaviors, “Traveling dreams”, Vacation-structures, Transport-structures, Trade-structures etc reliant on an aviation infrastructure addicted to fossil fuels!

Unless the “Fairy with the Magic Wand” turns up with a revolutionary technical wonder, an Aviation industry based on Renewable energy such as bio-fuels is nothing more than a “daydream” – the global scale is simply too big, already today…!

Biofuel – a Utopian solution…?
According to US Energy Information Administration (eia) the total world jet fuel consumption in 2005 was 1,837,260,350 barrels, which equals 218,633,982 cubic meters (Graph)

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Click picture for article on Jatropha Curcas

Using the plant with one of the highest yields of “bio-oil” per hectare, the Jatropha Curcas, (approx. 700 – 1,800 Liters per hectare) means that an area twice the size of France needs to be transformed into a mono-culture to grow enough “bio-fuel” for the aviation industry to become 100% renewable, at 2005 level. Using Rapeseed would need considerably larger areas and Soybeans more than 4X that area.

When simulating different scenarios of aviation growth, based on current prognoses, including the promised increase in fuel efficiency, more efficient aircraft operations etc its obvious that consumption could, even when using very conservative numbers, easily at least double by 2050…

…by then we also need to grow food 2-3 billion more people, and undoubtedly other means of transportation, energy companies etc are also interested in bio-fuels…

Aviation Industry and [or] the Global Goals

The ICAO states on their homepage (Link) that they work with Member States and industry groups to reach consensus on an economically sustainable and environmentally responsible civil aviation sector.

…the priorities from the ICAO seems to be quite clear [?] – economy should be sustainable while being environmentally “responsible”… I thought it was clear for most people that the opposite is an absolute must. A Sustainable Climate and Environment, “regardless” of the economic implication this might bring…

“THERE IS NO BUSINESS ON A DEAD PLANET”

It becomes even more obvious that the industry’s own Sustainable Economy is the main objective in the comments to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), which they where quick to address, especially highlighting Goals 8 and 9;

To-date ICAO has proposed global indicators under SDG Goals 8 and 9, and we will continue to contribute to these monitoring efforts as appropriate.

  • www.sorenandersson.com“ICAO promotes air connectivity to foster local and regional tourism, employment and economic growth (an indicator was proposed to the UN Statistical Commission to support this Goal).
  • Jointly with WCO and UNWTO, ICAO assists States in facilitating procedures for the issuance of visas and the implementation of efficient border inspection systems.”

 

  • www.sorenandersson.com“ICAO assists States in developing and maintaining high-quality, reliable and sustainable aerodrome and air navigation infrastructure (an indicator was proposed to the UN Statistical Commission to support this Goal).
  • ICAO promotes the improvement of resilient infrastructure and fosters cleaner and environmentally sound aviation technologies and processes.
  • ICAO supports the delivery of internet and telecommunications services in underserved areas by unmanned aircraft.”

For each of the indicators the aviation industry is, through ICAO ( a UN specialized agency? ) “promoting”, “assisting”, “facilitating” and “supporting” states and stakeholders in every matter that can continue to grow the aviation industry or make it more resilient, while for Indicators 12 “Responsible Consumption and Production” and 13 “Climate Action” they somehow manage to neglect the effect that increasing Aviation-emissions have on our Climate. Using a vague reference that there is some “steady progression towards a more sustainable aviation sector” – while in reality total aviation-emissions are increasing…?

  • www.sorenandersson.com“ICAO promotes optimal and efficient utilization of available aviation capacity, recycling and reuse of aircraft materials, proper disposal of hazardous substances and the general and steady progression towards a more sustainable aviation sector.

 

 

  • www.sorenandersson.com“ICAO has a number of initiatives to reduce or limit the impact of civil aviation on climate change, and to measure their effects. This includes support to States in improving resiliency of aviation infrastructure, facilitating technology transfer and assistance, and implementing of more efficient flight procedures.

 

Let me get this straight…

The aviation industry, supported/organized by a UN agency (?), avoids incessantly to acknowledge any “responsibility” in the urgent Climate Change dilemma, despite being one of the “most high-emitting” modes of transportation. Despite all their stakeholders continuously pushing for growth, while already being one of the fastest growing industries on the planet. Despite being a driving force behind an increasing “Lock-In effect” making more and more people “reliant” on a fossil fuel addicted aviation industry for transport, trade and for leisure…

…well, I suppose that concludes it…!

Materiality

At a time when “Materiality” is being discussed more and more in connection with Sustainability, one question is left largely unanswered;

When are we going to discuss Materiality of a whole Industry…?

One thing seems pretty clear – If we leave it to the Aviation industry to answer by themselves whether they are “material” in a Sustainable society the answer is likely to be disguised behind thick screens of Smoke…

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Inspiration has No Limits…! https://sorenandersson.com/inspiration-no-limits/ https://sorenandersson.com/inspiration-no-limits/#respond Wed, 13 Jan 2016 16:40:43 +0000 http://sorenandersson.com/?p=10327 Whenever cheaters like VW, HSBC, Monsanto, Exxon or Lance Armstrong are disclosed, voices are raised to institute more and firmer laws and regulations, to increase supervision and compliance testing etc – but is this really the right or the best … Continue reading

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Whenever cheaters like VW, HSBC, Monsanto, Exxon or Lance Armstrong are disclosed, voices are raised to institute more and firmer laws and regulations, to increase supervision and compliance testing etc – but is this really the right or the best way forward?

I’m not in any way implicating that it is OK to break the law, to violate rules or good business practice, I’m just arguing that there might be other ways to reduce cheating.

Maybe we should look into Why people and corporations cheat… and start from there.

A defect culture…

www.sorenandersson.comDuring 3-4 decades expressions like “Greed is Good”, “What’s in it for me?” and “Business have no responsibility” have formed the resonance of an economic (and political) culture largely based on the theory/idea that a deregulated free market, is
The solution to everything…”
(Read more about “A Free market…” Here)

It doesn’t take a “rocket-scientist” to see where these flawed ideas have brought us…

The events last fall, revealing that even a world-leading corporation such as VW doesn’t hesitate to deliberately cheat if it can gain short-term economic advantages, is only the most recent in what seems to be an endless flow of revelations – Tax-havens, Double Irish arrangements, Anonymous companies, Rampant inequality, illegal and “legal” corruption, the list seems to be never-ending – and it is only focused on acquiring money and wealth at “any cost”…
Some executives and corporations even seems to have drawn the conclusion that it is perfectly acceptable to cheat – It’s getting caught that is the crime…

The way out of this unsustainable and devastating situation is probably not to replace the laws with new laws, applying tougher rules or increased monitoring and punishment, while keeping the defect Culture – We need a Culture-change!

“If you don’t get culture right, nothing else matters!”

Some people immediately argue that industry self-regulation has never worked, and probably never will… Well…, history and the latest “events” show that “regulation” doesn’t have that good track-record either…

Continuing the current destructive culture, allowing for Cheating, Greed and Corruption to gain even more acceptance will not only increase inequality and tensions in our society – it’s a dead-end for Humanity!!

Let’s take a look at some things from the “toolbox” that could prove helpful to the much needed “Culture-transformation”.

Inspiration – Positive vers. Negative

…a reflection on some things regarded Positive versus Negative.

Restrictions
www.sorenandersson.comMost people regard Restrictions as something negative, or as a “burden”. Since a restriction is never seen as “positive” the maximum “Best result” you can reach is “zero” – when all restriction have been fulfilled… or “removed”…

Inspiration
This “factor” is by most regarded as positive. So… how high is the maximum “Best result” you can reach when it comes to inspiration? Can you be too inspired…
…this factor have No Limits!

With this in mind, tougher restriction, more compliance testing etc will increase the negative “factors” and in best case, optimal compliance will only bring us closer to zero, but will never pass over to be regarded as positive… and cheaters will continue to put large efforts in circumventing also new restrictions.

If we instead could work with mind-set and culture to create Inspiration to Do Good (as in “Common good for Humanity”) there is literally No Limits!

Read more in this previous article:
Why wouldn’t we want to have a positive impact on the world…?

“There is no higher religion than human service.
To work for the common good is the greatest creed.”

Woodrow Wilson

…perhaps the current trend with an increasing interest and focus on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) could be regarded as a start – let’s hope it is “For Real”, and no cheating…

Inspiration – Proven solution…

…a “systematic approach” to inspire and encourage innovation.

Most people have probably heard about the “S-curve” of growth and development;

“Start – Innovation – Maturity – Decline”

With the introduction of “economy of scale”, “ISO certification” etc. many companies devote substantial resources to document exactly how to do “their thing”, and then scale-up production to increase earnings, based on this “job description”. Quite often also the “business-model” is closely connected to this.

So, once a corporation have found the best way to do their thing, they have documented it thoroughly, maybe certified their processes, trained the staff and business works well – decline sets in…

…Because the surrounding overall context changes and evolution continues!

There are countless examples of companies and/or products that have become obsolete due to corporations inability to detect and adapt to changes in the context. But regardless how often this is stated, it will happen again…

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Perhaps Mies van der Rohes motto; “Less is More” can actually help us to avoid decline?

The intention with most documentation efforts and quality certification schemes (i.e. ISO 9000) is to document and describe a specific process so accurately that it can be repeated again and again achieving the same result.

This is perhaps a good set-up for a very specific manufacturing-process, but for more complicated or complex processes it can actually exacerbate decline…
Mainly because it reduces or limits innovation.

What if we instead focused on documenting only “How” to achieve the result or quality wanted, leaving out as much as possible of exactly “What” to do… and instead give, one or many, examples of “proven solutions” that have actually achieved the “How”.

If there is a “proven solution” to base your new “unique” solution on, the simplest thing would of course be to just copy this proven solution, in that way you would probably do most things right – but the human ambition to improve, to compete, to “make better” is likely to result in improvements of the proven solution, it would most likely also result in adaptations to better suit the current situation.

After analyzing how well the new solution fulfills the basic demands, the result would probably be a new “proven solution”, to add to the others – more up to date and more “in phase” with the changes in the world around us.

…and then everything starts all over again…

Inspiration – Innovation…

In our continually fast-changing world, innovation is not something unique – it is an absolute “necessity”.

www.sorenandersson.comBut in a world where trends for a long time has been to make absolutely everything into a “commodity” – something you can mass-produce, something which can be “manufactured” through economy-of-scale – innovation is so much more complex and quite often limited to “upgrades” or “maintenance” of what is already available on the market.

…on the other hand, new innovations can very quickly make common and widely distributed products and services (commodities) obsolete – literarily “over-night”.

When we now, with increasing resource-scarcity and focus on Climate, Diversity, Inequality, a growing population etc, urgently need to down-scale our footprint, innovation will definitely play a more vital role than ever. Upgrading or maintaining an existing product-/service just won’t be enough – we need transformation.

This also means that we probably need to search inspiration “Elsewhere” – scaling down, “reducing” or simplifying a product or service is rather different from adding features or benefits to something already existing. We might even need to re-invent things based on a different worldview or apply “backwards engineering” to find a new path for evolution of specific products or services.

“Any intelligent fool can make things bigger and more complex… It takes a touch of genius – and a lot of courage to move in the opposite direction.”

Albert Einstein

…do you remember, not long ago, when logos, icons etc. had all kinds of “bling-effects”, reflections, shadows and “glows” – then everything was “flattened” and simplified…

Inspiration – People…

www.sorenandersson.comAccording to a report and a recent article by research company Gallup, a huge majority of employees (87% worldwide) are disengaged from their company or organization…

“I know everything happens for a reason,
but sometimes I wish I knew what that reason was…”

Employees lack the “WHY” – Why they do things, why their company is doing things… “To make profit”, is simply not a good enough answer!

Quote from previous article: (We are not “Human resources” – We are Human beings…)

Leadership-Its about the people-Small

Click on Picture to read full Article

“…in the real world, the strive for individual development, individual success, lifestyles, careers etc have never been stronger and recent research show that 65% of people are unhappy at work, only 14% understand their company’s strategy and many do not recognize the behaviors described in their company’s values…”

It is painfully obvious that today’s money-fixed and short-termist corporate culture not only leads to illegal and “legal” corruption and rampant inequality, it also leads to a disengaged workforce.

Reality is that Business is a very significant part of our society, business was created to solve some of our societal needs, but somewhere along the line bad theory has led to bad practice and a flawed Culture based on conceptual errors.

The best organizations and corporations in our Society realized, long time ago, that Inspired, skilled and engaged people is the Keyword to success, and that they are responsible to society for their actions, regardless if it’s required by law or not…

Conclusion

It took 3-4 decades to create the excesses of short-termism and extreme forms of exploitation-capitalism we are currently experiencing – let’s hope we can move away from it much quicker, our survival on this planet may very well depend on it…

…inspiration has NO LIMITS!

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A new beginning… https://sorenandersson.com/a-new-beginning/ https://sorenandersson.com/a-new-beginning/#respond Mon, 28 Dec 2015 22:23:11 +0000 http://sorenandersson.com/?p=10531 COP21 in Paris is over, 196 countries reached on December 12th an historic international agreement outlining the ambition and the way forward towards a new Sustainable future… The “Paris Agreement”. On September 25th the UN General Assembly adopted resolution A/Res/70/1… … Continue reading

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COP21 in Paris is over, 196 countries reached on December 12th an historic international agreement outlining the ambition and the way forward towards a new Sustainable future…
The “Paris Agreement”.

On September 25th the UN General Assembly adopted resolution A/Res/70/1…
The Global Goals for Sustainable Development

What a great way to launch an incredible new journey.

Interpretations and comments of what the agreements “really say” are coming from various stakeholders and organizations – many of them stating that its “too little” or “lacking enough ambition”, “too many goals” etc – but regardless, governments around the world have never before shown such collective commitment to support the transition to a Sustainable Society.

www.sorenandersson.comLet us instead of squabbling about details make sure we get started and keep a high momentum, so that no more precious time is lost.

And don’t forget;
There is nothing in the agreements stating that we are not allowed to do more or better…!

Let’s take a look at some of the “challenges” ahead…

“We need clear common goals and long-term rules…”

For many years this has been a very common excuse used by executives, corporations, industry associations, politicians and others to “do nothing”, to avoid or postpone change and continue Business-as-usual…

Now we have 17 Global Sustainable Development Goals including 169 targets, valid for All countries and All stakeholders, with a time frame of 15 years and also a clear ambition of limiting Global Warming to max +1.5 – +2.0 °C.

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Now it is time to stop making excuses and instead kick-start change.
(...and let’s hope it isn’t to late.)

One more fantastic thing about all the new goals – the almost 200 countries that have adopted them consists of countries with all varieties of political agendas and governmental setups, people of all religious communities, of all cultures and ethnicities… For once we have common goals – to save this planet and create a better world for everyone.

New Beginning – The End of the era of Fossil Fuels

Phasing out fossil fuels is imperative if we are to reach the agreed goals – and it is definitely the most urgent task of all if we are serious to stay below the +2 °C limit.

In a world so heavily dependent on fossil fuels, this will be a tough challenge, and with a wealthy Fossil fuel industry that obviously do not care at all if our planet is destroyed or not – as long as they can make profits – the challenge is going to take a lot of efforts…

Oil FieldIt is today common knowledge that we already have prospected, and found, fossil fuels that will cause 5 times the emissions our planet and humanity can handle – if extracted and burned the way we have done so far. But still the fossil fuel industry invests huge amounts, searching for more… and investors are still pouring lot’s of money down this “dead end street”…

The fossil fuel corporations also have lied about the consequences of their rogue business for decades and have actively funded climate denialists and lobbyists to promote their agenda – read Bill McKibbens op-ed in the Guardian about Exxon’s Climate Lie here… and it was not only Exxon that knew, as Neela Banerjee revealed in her article in Inside Climate News.

While this business is one of the most profitable on the planet it is also the sector that receives the highest subsidies of all – more then $10 million a minute according to IMF (Article) ...that’s more than the total health spending of all the world’s governments…

…But things are changing…

We are currently hitting something similar to “Peak Oil”, but the symptoms are the opposite of the ones that most people expected. There is a glut of supply, and prices are far below the cost of production. Read more in this excellent article by casualty actuary Gail Tverberg; “Why ‘supply and demand’ doesn’t work for oil”

www.sorenandersson.comThe Divestment movement is gaining momentum and during the Paris climate talks, it was announced that more than 500 institutions representing over $3.4 trillion in assets have made divestment commitments so far.

…if the Fossil Fuel Industry and egotistic Investors continue to argue that they need not to comply with the decisions of the majority of countries – we’ll have to push hard to move the money away from the apparently totally callous and selfish individuals running and owning these corporations…

…”Keep it in the Ground”…

New beginning – Excessive Consumption

We don’t need more consumption – we need less and more evenly distributed…

Based on WWF:s “Living Planet Report 2014“, where all available renewable resources are combined at a ratio called Global hectares (GHA) and then distributed evenly on the earth’s population, each of us have an annual “footprint budget” of 1.7 GHA that would keep us within our planetary boundaries.

We are currently using 2.6 GHA per capita – running the Planet at 153% of its capacity!!

And that’s the average – most of the high-income countries are using far more resources, living and consuming as if there are several available planets!

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With 85% of the world population living in a country running a biocapacity deficit, and running the planet at 153% of its capacity, we are hardly in a situation where we can increase consumption.
If you then add the inevitable fact that the population is going to increase by 2-3 billion people over the next few decades – We are in trouble!

What we URGENTLY must aim for is to get everybody closer to a Sustainable Average – bringing down the excessive consumption among developed countries while at the same time allowing for the developing world to reach a fair standard of living.
Read more in this previous article; “Average – a Sustainable Role model”

This is absolutely necessary to take into account in connection with any discussion of expanded trade, continued growth etc – unbridled growth can no longer be allowed, we have become a large society on a small planet and we are already way beyond the planetary boundaries.

…and this “Key-indicator” only included consumption of Renewable resources, the resources that our planet, if well managed, can continuously re-produce  – add non-renewable resources and the situation becomes even more troublesome…

New beginning – Globalization

…do we really need more Globalization, generally speaking?

Globalization has brought many good things for our society – Only good things… nja, well?

www.sorenandersson.comIf you look at the way many big corporations continuously source their production in countries where wages are lower, where taxes are lower, where legal requirements are lower etc – you could argue that Globalization only is a new name for Colonialism, and that our economic system is setup so that someone has to be exploited for others to thrive…

…but then someone from “pro-globalization” always brings up the benefits of “trickle-down economy” and the development that actually takes place in countries.
Yes – development is happening, but the setup as such has similarities with “Moment 22” – once wages etc increase the big corporations move on, always searching for “cheaper, less regulations…” And as if that’s not enough they often make sure that corporate taxes are paid 
elsewhere, if at all, effectively reducing the “exploited” countries opportunities to build a sound and strong state-economy and to develop their infrastructure etc…
From a corporate perspective; Is development, higher wages etc really a wanted solution? 

A “fictive” example:
Imagine an equal society where wages, taxes, laws etc are more or less the same around the world – Why should then a T-shirt for the European or US market be manufactured in Bangladesh or China?

www.sorenandersson.comShipping facts: There are today approx. 100,000 container ships in the world, that’s 4X more than in the 1970s. The 15 largest container ships together emits more CO2 than ALL the cars in the world. Thats approx 4% of all global CO2-emissions and almost equal to Germanys total CO2-emissions…

New beginning – Trade Agreements

Free-trade agreements are often said to be very beneficial for the continued development of our society on this planet.

www.sorenandersson.com

Link to: “Trade Trumps Climate”

What strikes me is that when you look at history, most of the current active agreements have been negotiated in parallel with all the efforts that have been made by countries and organizations to prevent and reduce our society’s negative impact on our climate and environment all the way since the Earth Summit in Rio 1992.

And still, the impact on our Climate, Resources etc. has always been totally excluded from the trade agreements.
It is almost as if consumption and trade have been granted a total “Carte-Blanche“…

And now its time again, the secretive negotiations of TTIP (Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership) and TPP (Trans-Pacific Partnership) includes no mention of climate change at all.
The TTIP includes a “charming” collection of sympathetic phrases, but nothing that would prevent the agreement from encroaching on environmental policies. There are even clauses giving corporations considerable “legal rights” to sue countries if they eg. introduce new regulations to save our climate that in any way jeopardizes corporate opportunities to make profits…

Apparently the negotiators have set their priorities straight (?). Trade rules must prevail. Even at the cost of the planet, and since trade agreements often are legally binding, while the Paris Agreement and Global Goals are merely “agreements” between countries – the planet is at considerable risk!

A reflection; Isn’t at least some of the negotiators part of the governments in their respective countries – The same governments that have signed The Global Goals and the Paris Agreement – don’t they work together? The timeframe we have to change the trajectory to avoid extremely serious consequences to our climate is very short – creating legally binding trade agreements which can counteract the vital changes necessary can not possibly be in humanity’s or voters interest…

New Beginning – People versus Corporations

Ever since neo-liberal economic theories from the “Chicago-school” and Milton Friedman’s article in New York Times in the 1970s became some kind of  “standard” taught at Business schools around the world, and eagerly promoted by people like Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher, corporations have become more and more discharged from Society.

“…Only ‘people’ have responsibilities…
’Business’ as a whole cannot be said to have responsibilities, even in this vague sense…”

Milton Friedman, New York Times 1970

This corporate discharge from “societal responsibility” have led to development of all kinds of setups where corporations operate only as legal “entities” creating their own flawed game rules. It also divorced people’s attachment and motivation from the “Corporate Machine” and place them in a separate category of “commodities” – Human Resources.

Read more in this previous article; “A free market – Free at ‘ANY’ price…?”

The current situation with Corporations only accountable to their shareholders is perhaps one of the greatest challenges of all when we now urgently need to re-shape our society – too many Corporations simply “doesn’t care”…

…or say they “care” but what they really do is merely maintenance of “Business-as-usual”…
Read more in this previous article
“A Sustainability Cheat-Sheet…”

...But things are (maybe) changing…

The current trends with Sustainability reporting and various CSR-initiatives show some “promising” ways forward, although it still mainly seems to be only minimal changes to Business-as-usual.
Disclosure is not equal to change, but it is a good start – and once you realize the problem there is no way back.

We are also seeing more and more disruptive business ideas (like Über, airbnb, Tesla, Spotify) gaining ground and changing the “landscape” altogether

Someone calculated that the nearly 200 countries that have adopted the Global Goals and the Paris Agreement represents more than 85% of the people living on this planet – this is what democracy is about. The issue is now whether corporations will continue their predatory and infinite hunt for short-term profits – with many of their employees, customers, shareholders and executives among the 85%…

This is an extremely serious moment in our society’s timeline on this planet – We need serious people to deal with it, not egoistic and selfish “avatars” claiming that they have “No responsibility” other than creating economic profit…

Watch this quick tour of the Goals…

PS:

Saving our planet is likely to hurt our current economic system and interfere with our current way of life, but not doing so will definitely DESTROY it!

So Let’s get started… “A New beginning!”

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