Okay I didn't get back to those Gibson's Critera as quickly as I could have. Because I got kind of bored thinking about companies where the only product is an information transaction. But, I feel it's important to keep exploring these criteria, and I'd like to do so using the topic of Ecological Economics paper, which I'm avoiding starting right now, which is about...
Agriculture, and Agricultural Subsidies
So let's examine how this criteria can be applied to agriculture and US Ag Policy, because why not?
3. Ensure that sufficiency and effective choices for all are pursued in ways that reduce dangerous gaps in sufficiency and opportunity (and health, security, social recognition, political influence, etc.) between the rich and the poor.
Here in the US we have a Cheap Food Policy. Our tax dollars subsidize the growing of grains for human consumption and feed for animals. The theory behind this is that it will become cheaper for poor people to afford groceries. The reality is that it unnaturally lowers the cost to produce corn, wheat and soy which are used to make high-fructose corn syrup, breads and soy-based fake meats. These products are now super cheap, and readily available to the poor. The result has been record rates of Type 2 Diabetes, ADHD and Obesity among poor Americans. Globally, our cheap exports are harming the agricultural economies of developing nations. In the ironic twist that history is so good at, these subsidies were crafted in part to help poor Americans, poor farmer's specifically, during the Great Depression.
So how could we craft a food policy in this country to reduce the gaps in sufficiency and opportunity between the rich and poor?
End All Agriculture Subsidies: This would raise the price of cheap sugars and carbohydrates and reduce the incentives to grow products that are less healthy than fruits and vegetables, which don't receive any subsidies. I am not an economist so I don't know if this re-balancing would cause bell peppers to be more affordable than their comparable weight in Cool Ranch Doritos. So if necessary, the minimum wage should be raised, and the WIC program expanded to cover a greater variety of produce. This balancing of costs and greater buying power would certainly expand 'Effective Choices' for the American working poor.
How to level Political Influence between the haves and have nots with the farm bill? I don't really know. Here's an Idea: let's change the presidential primary system so that Iowa is not always the first caucus state to decide who gets to be president. Their 'Pole Position' has lead politicians to pander to Iowa's local corn industry at the expense of the rest of the industry.
I feel there is an opportunity in here somewhere to expand labor opportunities. Oh that's right, Immigration! Another reason our food is so cheap is because we don't pay an honest wage to the folks who harvest it. We exploit workers from Mexico and further south. So let's reform our Immigration and Enforcement policies to ensure that the people who harvest the crops that feed us are American citizens, afforded the full protection of American labor laws. Mmmm, that's good equality!
Okay, we've gone off on some tangents here tonight. But I think we might have learned something. We'll return next time with Criteria #4 Inter-generational Equity!!
Friday, October 16, 2009
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Apply as Nessecary to the Effected Area
The question is: How can the criteria in Gibson's Sustainability Assessment be applied to the work we are doing for Sabre Holdings? The book is mostly about sustainability criteria at the level of government and national businesses, how can it be applied to a company that's all website traffic, offices and electronic plane tickets?
Let's explore the criteria:
1. Build human-ecological relations to establish and maintain the long-term integrity of socio-biophysical systems and protect the irreplaceable life support functions upon which human as well as ecological well-being depends.
This seems like a tall order to expect out of Travelocity. However I'm quickly thinking of their Travel for Good and Change Ambassador V0luntourism travel products. The experience of travel can be very effective at "building human-ecological relations." However, when the trip is over, in many ways the relationship ends. There is no longer an incentive to maintain the ecological system unless there is an eco-tourism infrastructure in place year round catering to a steady stream of travelers who's vacation dollars support the "irreplaceable life support functions." Care must be taken to insure that the travel infrastructure really does support the eco-system, and greenwashing must be weeded out of the system. And all the eco-tourism options are useless if the travelers don't care about the environment and just want some beaches to drink margaritas on. So Vegas is kind of out.
2. Ensure that everyone and every community has enough for a decent life and that everyone has opportunities to seek improvements in ways that do not compromise future generations' possibilities for sufficiency and opportunity.
Operational Control is really the sticky wicket here. Sabre is merely a broker, if you want to buy a ticket to the developing world and pour money into the human trafficking sex prisoner industry there's not a lot they can do about it. So we might need to narrow the scope of 'everyone' and consider the employees and the communities that Sabre can affect. Paying a living wage, and hiring vendors that pay a living wage, is the primary way Sabre could meet this criteria. Beyond that, a company culture that promotes the opportunity for a decent life, 40 hour work weeks, maternity leave, can build this chance for opportunity. Beyond the company opportunities could be expanded in traveled-to communities through charitable donations and more voluntourism options to bring first world dollars to create opportunity to the developing world. How to ensure these opportunities can continue beyond the current generation? Human's have had a way of passing information and techniques for survival from generation to generation, it's called culture. And changing a culture is something that takes leadership.
3. Ensure that sufficiency and effective choices for all are pursued in ways that reduce dangerous gaps in sufficiency and opportunity (and health, security, social recognition, political influence, etc.) between the rich and the poor.
Again this is an issue bigger than one company, I could be flip and say "Vote Democrat" but I don't really believe that is a great strategy anymore. Marxist Revolutionary Vacations, anyone? Alright it's late I'll address this with more seriousness in the next post.
Let's explore the criteria:
1. Build human-ecological relations to establish and maintain the long-term integrity of socio-biophysical systems and protect the irreplaceable life support functions upon which human as well as ecological well-being depends.
This seems like a tall order to expect out of Travelocity. However I'm quickly thinking of their Travel for Good and Change Ambassador V0luntourism travel products. The experience of travel can be very effective at "building human-ecological relations." However, when the trip is over, in many ways the relationship ends. There is no longer an incentive to maintain the ecological system unless there is an eco-tourism infrastructure in place year round catering to a steady stream of travelers who's vacation dollars support the "irreplaceable life support functions." Care must be taken to insure that the travel infrastructure really does support the eco-system, and greenwashing must be weeded out of the system. And all the eco-tourism options are useless if the travelers don't care about the environment and just want some beaches to drink margaritas on. So Vegas is kind of out.
2. Ensure that everyone and every community has enough for a decent life and that everyone has opportunities to seek improvements in ways that do not compromise future generations' possibilities for sufficiency and opportunity.
Operational Control is really the sticky wicket here. Sabre is merely a broker, if you want to buy a ticket to the developing world and pour money into the human trafficking sex prisoner industry there's not a lot they can do about it. So we might need to narrow the scope of 'everyone' and consider the employees and the communities that Sabre can affect. Paying a living wage, and hiring vendors that pay a living wage, is the primary way Sabre could meet this criteria. Beyond that, a company culture that promotes the opportunity for a decent life, 40 hour work weeks, maternity leave, can build this chance for opportunity. Beyond the company opportunities could be expanded in traveled-to communities through charitable donations and more voluntourism options to bring first world dollars to create opportunity to the developing world. How to ensure these opportunities can continue beyond the current generation? Human's have had a way of passing information and techniques for survival from generation to generation, it's called culture. And changing a culture is something that takes leadership.
3. Ensure that sufficiency and effective choices for all are pursued in ways that reduce dangerous gaps in sufficiency and opportunity (and health, security, social recognition, political influence, etc.) between the rich and the poor.
Again this is an issue bigger than one company, I could be flip and say "Vote Democrat" but I don't really believe that is a great strategy anymore. Marxist Revolutionary Vacations, anyone? Alright it's late I'll address this with more seriousness in the next post.
Friday, September 25, 2009
Proof of Education
What have I learned this week?
Well I learned that i have a very energetic & talented group of people working with me to launch our business together.
I'm trying to see how I can apply that EQ I've been developing, but so far there haven't been any group conflicts. I am trying to keep folks focused, and to orient the process so we don't get ahead of ourselves. People are excited and they want to start looking at spaces to rent and creating websites, but we haven't even figured our costs yet, heck we don't even have a real name so I feel like my job is to help everyone think strategically and apply the breaks when necessary. Fortunately everyone is really supportive of my "Hippie Business School" tactics, and when I propose wheeling, brainstorming or 'living into' our ideas I'm met with wonderful enthusiasm, creativity and zeal.
What did I learn specifically about TRE? Well... I learned that I'm behind on the reading. Ha Ha! Should have kept one of the paper syllabuses, but I'm confident I can catch up. I'm enjoying reading Gibson and Blackburn. What I particularly connect with is this idea that "Sustainability is the old wisdom" (Gibson, 39). We get caught up in 'green trends' and hope for new technologies to save us, we forget that many civilizations were sustainable for thousands of years. It wasn't until this new-fangled agricultural revolution came along in that things started getting out of whack. My capstone business plan revolves around using traditional wisdom to create foods that can heal the body, and i' heartened to see this applied in more technical fields as well. Three cheers for hunter gatherers!
Well I learned that i have a very energetic & talented group of people working with me to launch our business together.
I'm trying to see how I can apply that EQ I've been developing, but so far there haven't been any group conflicts. I am trying to keep folks focused, and to orient the process so we don't get ahead of ourselves. People are excited and they want to start looking at spaces to rent and creating websites, but we haven't even figured our costs yet, heck we don't even have a real name so I feel like my job is to help everyone think strategically and apply the breaks when necessary. Fortunately everyone is really supportive of my "Hippie Business School" tactics, and when I propose wheeling, brainstorming or 'living into' our ideas I'm met with wonderful enthusiasm, creativity and zeal.
What did I learn specifically about TRE? Well... I learned that I'm behind on the reading. Ha Ha! Should have kept one of the paper syllabuses, but I'm confident I can catch up. I'm enjoying reading Gibson and Blackburn. What I particularly connect with is this idea that "Sustainability is the old wisdom" (Gibson, 39). We get caught up in 'green trends' and hope for new technologies to save us, we forget that many civilizations were sustainable for thousands of years. It wasn't until this new-fangled agricultural revolution came along in that things started getting out of whack. My capstone business plan revolves around using traditional wisdom to create foods that can heal the body, and i' heartened to see this applied in more technical fields as well. Three cheers for hunter gatherers!
Thursday, September 17, 2009
So I'm trying to read my Alphabet Soup...
Sustainable Development Strategies, A Resource Book is the alphabet soup in question. I'm 60 pages into it and I'm still not sure what I've been reading about, but it's really boring.
That's not really true, in fact the book is about the challenges, setbacks and successes of international development organizations to implement Sustainable Development programs in the "Third World." What makes this reading challenging is having to navigate the mish mash of National Conservation Strategies, (NCSs) National Forestry Programs (NFPs), National Environmental Action Plans (NEAPs) and Regulatory Obligation Baseline Optimal Conservation Observation Protocols (ROBOCOPs).
Okay I made that last one up. But basically the text describes these organizations as seen from 30,000 feet up, the big picture. And it's hard to understand what these various orgs actually do aside from hold stakeholder meetings and issue reports and plans, prioritizing actions and outlining goals. It is hard for me to visualize or understand exactly what this means on the ground: What is the Pakistan 2010 program doing? How many acres of the rain forest has the TFAP preserved?
I have been able to glean the following nuggets of wisdom:
Sustainable Development Strategies is available from Amazon
That's not really true, in fact the book is about the challenges, setbacks and successes of international development organizations to implement Sustainable Development programs in the "Third World." What makes this reading challenging is having to navigate the mish mash of National Conservation Strategies, (NCSs) National Forestry Programs (NFPs), National Environmental Action Plans (NEAPs) and Regulatory Obligation Baseline Optimal Conservation Observation Protocols (ROBOCOPs).
Okay I made that last one up. But basically the text describes these organizations as seen from 30,000 feet up, the big picture. And it's hard to understand what these various orgs actually do aside from hold stakeholder meetings and issue reports and plans, prioritizing actions and outlining goals. It is hard for me to visualize or understand exactly what this means on the ground: What is the Pakistan 2010 program doing? How many acres of the rain forest has the TFAP preserved?
I have been able to glean the following nuggets of wisdom:
- Sustainability means different things to different classes and individuals, and Environmental Sustainability can't happen without Social / Economic stability & well being.
- Sustainable Development programs must combine bottom up leadership as well as top down support. If the varying individuals affected by the program have no stake in the planning process, the program will fail.
- Sustainable Development programs must be flexible, and tailored to the nation or community they are serving.
- Program implementers must understand the facets of the 0rganizational level they are dealing with, nation, state, community. This reminds me of some of the basics of the Systemic Thinking Labs, understanding at what level of the system you are dealing with and what its specific properties are.
- Programs must address the very short and very long term, wile including enough flexibility to change the long-term strategy as the facts on the ground change.
- The US does not pay her UN membership dues.
Sustainable Development Strategies is available from Amazon
Monday, September 14, 2009
I learned that this makes sense...
The Market Equation:
I've tried to wrap my head around this one before, but finally this weekend in Ecological Economics we reviewed it and it makes sense to me, I guess. I will endeavor to explain it in "Layman's terms."
MU is Marginal Utility, this is the subjective value a consumer places on a product or service when purchasing it. P is the basic Market Price, and MPP is the marginal physical product of a factor (a) when used to make the good (X or Y). That is, the extra output produced with one more unit of input, one more pound of dough makes 12 cookies, or something like that.
The use of a ratio of X/Y is basically Product X, compared to Product Y, so this equation is only comparing two products, but is extrapolated to contain every product found on the market today.
What this Means, among other things, is that prices will reflect the consumer's perceived utility of a product, and the value of the inputs, and that all prices are relative to each other, and other product's perceived utilty.
Now, this is of course one of those theoretical economic principles that sounds good but falls apart as soon as reality is acknowledged, and it explodes into shards of nonsense once you apply any environmental values or principles of ecological economics.
For example, Utility is highly influenced by Advertising, just ask my Lady Friend what she spends on blue jeans, compared to the utility of the jeans I bought six years ago which are just fine despite the hole in the crotch thank you very much.
Second, prices don't often reflect the environmental impact of the products in question, somewhere someone or someplace is being impacted by the pesticides used on the cotton grown to make my blue jeans, but the mitigation of those toxins are not factored into the price.
Finally, what is the market price of a lungful of air? What is the value of that Air? What if the Air was unavailable?
I've tried to wrap my head around this one before, but finally this weekend in Ecological Economics we reviewed it and it makes sense to me, I guess. I will endeavor to explain it in "Layman's terms."
MU is Marginal Utility, this is the subjective value a consumer places on a product or service when purchasing it. P is the basic Market Price, and MPP is the marginal physical product of a factor (a) when used to make the good (X or Y). That is, the extra output produced with one more unit of input, one more pound of dough makes 12 cookies, or something like that.
The use of a ratio of X/Y is basically Product X, compared to Product Y, so this equation is only comparing two products, but is extrapolated to contain every product found on the market today.
What this Means, among other things, is that prices will reflect the consumer's perceived utility of a product, and the value of the inputs, and that all prices are relative to each other, and other product's perceived utilty.
Now, this is of course one of those theoretical economic principles that sounds good but falls apart as soon as reality is acknowledged, and it explodes into shards of nonsense once you apply any environmental values or principles of ecological economics.
For example, Utility is highly influenced by Advertising, just ask my Lady Friend what she spends on blue jeans, compared to the utility of the jeans I bought six years ago which are just fine despite the hole in the crotch thank you very much.
Second, prices don't often reflect the environmental impact of the products in question, somewhere someone or someplace is being impacted by the pesticides used on the cotton grown to make my blue jeans, but the mitigation of those toxins are not factored into the price.
Finally, what is the market price of a lungful of air? What is the value of that Air? What if the Air was unavailable?
What have I learned so far?
Hello Ed!
This is a blog with a fairly tight audience segment, a one Mr. Edward Quevedo, Senior Counsel and Chair of the Sustainability Practice Group at Paladin Law. He is also my instructor in Thriving Regenerative Enterprises.
This is a blog with a fairly tight audience segment, a one Mr. Edward Quevedo, Senior Counsel and Chair of the Sustainability Practice Group at Paladin Law. He is also my instructor in Thriving Regenerative Enterprises.
This Blog is a Journal of my leanings, it will also include some humorous anecdotes and / or funny pictures, this can not be helped, but hopefully it'll make reading my homework a bit more interesting.
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