Long live 'good collaboration'

I’ve always hated businesses collaborating, even when it’s on purely social grounds. In the end I’m a capitalist at heart and whilst it has its problems, it’s not as bad as all the rest. And collaboration fits in the rest. When companies who do similar things get together, whilst on the outside they may look like they create change, the collusion is almost always a stitch up. Yes a stitch up because, as they are not competing with each other so the need to go further disappears, and so the more they talk the more watered down it becomes – and the less change that actually happens.

Take the booze industry. Has all the collaboration of all the drinks manufacturers really optimised what could have been achieved? Well it’s done enough to stave off more regulation, but has it actually worked? Go out to Cardiff city centre on a Friday night and tell me that the responsible drinking message is getting through loud and clear to the public – oh no it isn't!

If each of those businesses had had to find ways to out-do each other in the area of responsible drinking, we would surely be light years ahead. So let's ban all industry collaboration initiatives and watch competition re-enter businesses approach to these issues.

But stop - not so fast - is all collaboration wrong? Absolutely not. In fact collaboration across sectors should be demanded. Whilst it’s great for a single company to want to be sustainable, it’s impossible to be so if no-one else is doing it around you. That doesn't just mean a company's supply chain either (because at least you have more control of that). No, I mean things like if there is poor public transport around your offices how can you persuade your staff out of their cars. Which is why we must all collaborate with any organisation except the ones in your own sector. Water companies and energy companies working together to make more sustainable cities in partnership with local authorities. All have got something to add, something new to help each other - a positive creative way forward.

And perhaps if the Coalition Government is really going to work it should embrace the concept of coalition fully. Let's get groups of people together with lots of divergent experience and see if together we can work out a new way of doing things, that works better, utilises innovation wherever it may come from and costs us all less.

Long live 'good collaboration'.

Not in my back yard

This morning I was listening to the Today Programme on Radio 4 when I heard an interview with a research scientist who was being interviewed about the recent BP Gulf of Mexico oil spill.

Having heard the recent confirmation from US government scientists that this was the world's worst oil spill of all time, I was amazed to hear one of the facts from the research scientist. He stated that if the Gulf of Mexico was scaled down to the size of an Olympic swimming pool and the oil spill was scaled down by the same amount, the oil spill would amount to one gram of oil in that swimming pool. Now that fact does not diminish the impact that the spill has had on the lives of the families of those that were killed in the accident, the fishermen and their families who depend on the coastal fishing industry, and the many that rely on the tourism in the region. It does, however, make one think about the scale and press coverage that this corporate irresponsibility has received in comparison to other corporate irresponsibility - it seems to just depend where in the world it is happening.

The one example that springs to mind is the spills that are taking place on an almost daily basis in the Niger Delta. These may not be one single vast spill like the BP spill, however in cumulation they are huge. The Nigerian government estimates there were over 7,000 spills, large and small, between 1970 and 2000, according to the BBC. That is approximately 300 spills a year, and some spills have been leaking for years. Vast swathes of the Delta are covered with tar and stagnant lakes of crude. By some estimates, over 13 million barrels of oil have spilled into the Delta. That’s the equivalent of one Exxon Valdez spill every year for 40 years, according to The Independent. How often do we hear about what is going on in the Niger Delta - I wonder how many swimming pools these spills would fill.

Now all of this certainly does not belittle what has happened in the Gulf of Mexico, or dim the light of what BP has done. What the spill there has done has raised the issue in everyone's mind because we are all hearing about it - so that must be a good thing. Hopefully the result of this high profile spill will make us all more concious and unaccepting of corporate irresponsibility wherever it is happening in the world.

Beauty and the beast (of climate change)

Could the latest beauty craze that is apparently reaching our shores be something that helps us address climate change? According to an article in the Times today (although reported some time ago in the Daily Mail) the latest beauty craze, something that might eclipse Botox, is encouraging us to inject carbon dioxide into your skin to make you look young and beautiful again.

Not sure I have any desire to inject CO2 into my skin, but perhaps if it really takes off it could be more successful than carbon capture and storage? Move over E.ON and Scottish Power - here comes some really beautiful CCS!

Colour invasion bringing smiles and tears

There's a zesty new trend emerging, and it's trying to change your mood.

I, like a couple of thousand other Londoners, wander across Jubilee Bridge on my way home from work each day, enjoying the view of London sprawled along the Thames. The scene is uplifting, but it’s undeniably grey. Except, that is, for the bright yellow staircase of the Queen Elizabeth Hall on southbank. There’s something about dazzling and unexpected colour that makes me smile – and apparently I’m not alone.

Italian architect Renzo Piano recently shocked London by unveiling what he felt was the perfect coating for the new sustainable offices at Central Saint Giles (pictured). It’s an effort to show that sustainability isn’t just about what a building does (or, in terms of carbon footprint, what it doesn’t do); it can also be about how it does it. The zesty orange, yellow and green shine out in an effort to create a “joyful heart” in the city and “make a positive contribution to this part of the West End”.

It’s not just London that’s getting a colourful makeover. In March, Dulux launched a new chapter in its green agenda, with an international outreach project to help us “live our lives in colour”. The idea is to equip enthusiastic community volunteers with brushes and cans of paint to splash more colour into the world. So far they’ve colourfied communities as far apart as Rio de Janeiro in Brazil and Jodhpur in India. This week they’re in Istanbul.

Not everyone’s a fan of this colour invasion. The Guardian recently suggested that looking at Central Saint Giles, you’d be forgiven for thinking that giant mutant radioactive chewy sweets had invaded the world. Perhaps that’s a little extreme. At least we know that if the good weather doesn’t last, we have something else to dazzle us this summer.

Orange wellies hit festivals

Summer is here and the festival season has kicked off. Every year you hear of a new sustainable initiative from eco festivals that aim to be carbon neutral, eco tents that are recyclable, through to recycling incentives of beer and chocolate for festival goers who pick up a bag of rubbish during their stay.

One of the brands well known for sustainable festival gadgets, is Orange, helping to power mobiles when conventional power is lacking. They introduced the dance powered mobile phone charger at Glastonbury and their latest addition thermoelectric wellies that charge your mobile are bound to be a hit in the English, not always so sunny summer!

So with your wellies on, your bin bag and eadible tent to hand, you're ready to minimise your impact and have fun at the next festival near you.

'Because that's how Piers sees it'...but is it enough?

If anyone could bear to sit through Piers Morgan’s World Cup South Africa programme last night with its African chanting in the background and Piers Morgan fighting back the tears as he listened to clips of Nelson Mandela’s famous inaugural speech from 1994, then you are perhaps a more tolerant person than I am. However, Piers Morgan firmly aside, the programme was actually delivering a really important message about the role of sport within South African communities. Sport, and particularly football, is so much more than a game – it improves the physical and mental wellbeing of the population, it brings people together, it provides a platform for the delivery of vital public health message, it teaches tolerance, fair play, discipline and valuable leadership and teamwork skills and for many it is what keeps them going from one day to the next. Today, many agree that sport could be a very effective means of achieving the Millennium Development Goals that Kiri mentioned in her last post.

Sport as a tool for social change is not a new concept - organisations such as the Laureus Sport for Good Foundation have been funding projects worldwide that are delivering and promoting sport for development for many years. However, although there has been a lot of talk, there are still very few governments, donors, NGOs and businesses that are actually taking action to recognise, invest in and advance sport for development. Will the World Cup in South Africa change this? There have been lots of discussions about the social legacy of the tournament and the responsibility of different stakeholders to ensure that the benefits don’t end when the final match whistle blows, but is it enough? It would be nice to think that Piers and even Glee’s Sue Sylvester talking about the benefits of sport is a sign that times are changing but I am understandably sceptical. The World Cup is a rare opportunity to influence attitudes and opinions, a chance to put sport firmly on the agenda – let’s not leave it up to Piers to make this happen.

Virtually impossible to pick one... but let's see...

I've been keeping my eye on The Global Poverty Project for a while now. As we all know, our new Prime Minister Cameron, along with the world's leaders, will be gathering in New York in September to assess the progress in achieving The Millennium Development Goals. If you're not familiar with the eight goals, here they are:

1. Eradicate Extreme Poverty and Hunger

2. Achieve Universal Primary Education

3. Promote Gender Equality and Empower Women

4. Reduce child mortality

5. Improve maternal health

6. Combat HIV/AIDS, Malaria and other diseases

7. Ensure environmental sustainability

8. Develop a Global Partnership for Development

This project is asking us to choose which goal we feel needs the greatest attention. Now some might say this is an exercise in futility but seeing the general consensus could be very revealing. All the issues since 2000 have had major improvements but it's evident that some areas are still failing. The new government has said that they will "create new mechanisms to give British people a direct say in how an element of the aid budget is spent." So by making a choice through The Global Poverty Project we can all make our voice heard. And this may make for a very interesting Review Summit.