China is increasingly making data on air and water pollution public. Many pressure groups have been taking advantage of this data.
The Institute for Public and Environmental Affairs (IPE) has taken this opportunity and compiled a map of companies in China that do not meet the pollution requirements set by Chinese law. International companies like Nike, Wal-Mart and Siemens are increasingly using this information to check whether there are any issues in their supplier base to avoid public scandals that may damage their reputation and brand value.
Cloud-computing and ICT technology as such has changed our society. A development of our Web2.0 culture is just one small part of the impact. The way we communicate, the way we interact, the tools we use.
Even if we often are not aware of the environmental impacts of our actions – it is evident, that our changed behavior with the availability of computing tools and new ways to interact has an impact on the environment.
Nothing to be afraid of – there are positive and negative impacts: Did you know that a modern laptop consumes less energy than an old light bulb?
As Jorge Zapico who is currently researching the intersections of ICT and Sustainability at the Centre for Sustainable Communications in Stockholm points out correctly, that there are many ways in which we can enhance the positive impacts. For example an open source approach to sharing information, using the net to mobilize the environmental movement and taking advantage of technologies that make our life more (energy) efficient.
Which does not mean we should neglect the negative ones like the hidden hardware in many data centers that is running our beloved Internet cloud (slide 13). Enjoy Jorge’s presentation on this topic:
Whilst the volcano Eyjafjallajökull in Island has impacted the lives of millions of travellers over the last days and cost airlines over 200 billion Euros per day. Non-volcanologists do not spend much time on considering environmental impacts of this event.
This might sound a bit philosophical: Since Vulcanos were there before us – shouldn’t they consider us as a threat rather than the other way around?
More seriously: As David Mc Candless points out in his blog Information is Beautiful, the amount of CO2 emissions that were prevented by the volcano eruption is significantly higher than the CO2 that the Volcano emitted.
We surely need to keep in mind that the root of climate change is not CO2 emissions but our demands (in this case for means of transport). This event hopefully makes some of us realize this connection > Let’s not forget that it is not a greener aviation industry and well treated passengers that will solve the climate change issue.
BBC News has developed a guide showing some of the world’s key volcanoes:
Noone really seems to have grasped what sustainability really stands for. One of those concepts that is so broad that anything could fit in and so complex that noone really knows how to transform it into something practical.
Especially corporates seem to be struggling in making sense of it and putting the topic in a context that speaks to the individual, to management and serves the company purpose. Let’s be honest here – it’s a real challenge. There’s no off-the-shelf solution on how to turn a successful corpoate business into a successful sustainable one. And it’s surely not about the process but much more about the indivudual that drives change in the organization.
Boston University has built their concept around ‘Corporate Citizenship’. They recently released a report on Leadership Competencies for Community Involvement that shows what it takes to be a change agent in driving a big organization towards taking an active role in corporate citizenship. Have a look it’s an interesting read.
Kanal Consulting Group a US-based management firm has developed a 12 step guideline to Implement sustainability accross an organization.
As reported on greenbiz.com, they propose the list of steps to implement sustainability in order to improve the “bottom line and the environment”.
The list covers: Be coherent in what you do, have a proper strategy & model, get everyone on board and roll this out across departments.
Employee engagement seems to be one of the key components that are still perceived as challenging when it comes to implementing sustainability.
In a way it makes sense – we are dealing with individuals on whose motivation the success of the project depends. Coming up with a really motivating internal campaign to get everyone on board, opening up the plan so employees can propose their own ideas requires not only a lot of preparation but also a rethinking of the current thinking that is being done around sustainable development. Is it time for an open source approach for global companies?
Cradle to cradle is giving the word ‘design’ a deeper meaning. Rather than looking at a visual aspect, it is about designing a product by keeping in mind the entire product life cycle.
We live in a system that is designed based on common values we had back in times of the industrial revolution. Times where people thought environmental resources would last forever and people would only benefit from the improved production models… It only makes sense that environment was not a priority back then.
Looking at products & services that were designed following the very same model today we should ask ourselves the question: What is the point in improving a product that is not good in the first place?
The point is not necessarily that we need to stop completely what we are doing right now. It’s more about rethinking the things we are right now and adapting it to a new model that keeps in mind all aspects of sustainability.
Rather than putting economic impact in the centre of discussion, William McDonough is putting a slightly different aspect in the middle of the thinking he does with every product he designs:
How do we love all the children of all species for all time?
The best introduction to this topic (besides the book of course) is the documentary called ‘Waste = Food’ that even won Winner the Silver Dragon at the Beijing International Science Film Festival.
You may wonder what this post has to do with Sustainability: I do believe that the shift towards social media is not only important for Corporate Marketers. The fact that corporations have to become more transparent also means they have to start reviewing their current business operations: How compliant are we really? And how do our stakeholders perceive our performance?
Some years ago it would have been a great opportunity for a Business to move towards social & environmental responsibility to gain a competitive advantage. Today it becomes more and more a must to not fall behind your competitors and to avoid a potential crisis.
Being truly transparent does not only mean that a corporation needs to implement a CSR report that is compliant with GRI standards we are talking about a process of change management that is not to underestimate. It’s not just about the numbers but also about the motivations & meaning given to these values by each and every employee.
Only in the moment a researcher from the R&D division, your supply chain partners and the external maintenance guy live up to this philosophy and come to work every day because they truly believe they help save the environment and add benefit to the community by working for an organization, one can talk about a successful implementation of this approach. It’s not just a one-off exercise. It’s rather a cultural transformation of the whole organization.
I’m currently reading ‘Strategy for Sustainability’ by Adam Werbach (Harvard) and am realizing also based on my own experience that Communication will play a key role in solving the dilemma most corporates are facing when running a number of sustainability programmes without linking these back to their core business strategy.
The result is a number of scattered, isolated activities and projects where neither people involved in the project nor external audiences can find a purpose.
I can only recommend you to read this book. For me it was a real eye-opener.
Here an interview with the Author:
Interestinly enough most corporates fear to communicate about the ‘green thing’ as a result – rather than trying to show more transparency they end up stepping back from communicating. Especially in the 24/7 virtual space, this creates issues since conversations will continue without you if you don’t join them.
Open Source Ecology takes an open source approach to technology development with the aim to empower individuals to develop their own self-sufficient ecovillages without depending on supply chains, trademarks & corporations.
‘Factor E Farm’ provides a tool set that makes it possible for individuals to become self-sufficient. Tool set’s include instructions on how to create construction machines, tractors, solarpanels etc. at a quality level that comes close to commercial machines. All tool sets for open source technology are being published on the open source ecology wiki so others can use and further develop the material. Watch this video to see some of their machines in practise.
I’m quite impressed by this approach since I do personally believe that the open source culture can be transferred to many different value-driven fields. Ecological living is an area where concrete solutions and expertise could easily create benefit by being spread more openly via the Internet.
In the area of sustainable development there seems to be a big disconnect between corporate sustainability communication and actual solutions that are being applied. Maybe there is something even bigger corporations could learn from this simple concept & collaborative approach.
I’m speaking to more and more people that are trying to make sense of what they do and how it can benefit society & the environment as a whole.
It always starts with a dream, a broad idea of how it could look like in practise and lots of passion that gives people the drive to make things happen. More and more people do dare to make the step and create a business around these ambitions. Dreamers transform into entrepreneurs and suddenly become part of a genre that is accepted and increasingly admired by society.
What people seem to lack and look for is very human support:
- A person that gives feedback like a mirror
- Some guidance in creating a good sales pitch
- Some ideas to complete the story
- Help with finance and getting the right people on board
- A well thought through and tangible Marketing plan
…and last but not least: Confidence
I find it personally very inspiring to listen to people’s ideas, help them develop their business model and help them to market their concept. I’ve now decided to help members at The Hub develop their ideas and explore the world of online Marketing. I look forward to exciting new ideas, people with big dreams and enough courage to make them happen.
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