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Re-thinking Progress: The Circular Economy

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“Be patient with yourself. Nothing in nature blooms all year”

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“Untitled“ by | Matt Burgess

Mount Martha, Victoria, Australia

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“Currently, environmental education through media suffers from limited engagement, audience fatigue, as well as an underutilization of certain engagement formats. There is a need to develop creative content that reaches a broad audience, addresses environmental concerns and stimulates problem-solving... There is interest in, and demand for, informative content on the environment, but it needs to become more entertaining and engaging.”

“There was a consensus amongst panelists that environment-related messages are overwhelmingly negative. Not only are people less likely to watch or listen to negative messages, but positive messages are far more likely to invite action.”

by @united-nations Environment

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Smart manufacturing helps companies achieve...

economic sustainability: when computers and other devices are optimized to do what they do best, people are free to focus on ideas and solutions.

environmental sustainability: to discover trends and do analysis to judge the efficacy of programs designed to reduce waste and emissions.

social responsibility: when companies are financially stable, they can take care of their people and conduct positive impacts on the world to the best of their ability

by John Clemons, Director of Manufacturing IT for Maverick Technologies.

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“The sustainability leader’s role expands as the profession evolves from its tactical origins of reporting and stakeholder engagement to that of business strategy, change management, and on-the-ground execution. Early on, these roles were established to manage risk; now they are there to harvest opportunity.”

“One development driving greater specialization is an increase in the specificity of goal setting... Measurement has become more target-oriented as companies set goals in alignment with the Science-Based Targets initiative and others seek Context-Based Targets for other environmental impacts.”

by John Davies, VP & Sr. Analyst at GreenBiz @greenbiz

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“The through-line that ties together these new [ESG] investing models and strategies is quite simple: while they have generated competitive returns, it so happens that they all positively benefit society as well. Essentially what investors want is the performance promise of financial engineering combined with the assurance of a better tomorrow.”

“In one sense, nothing about what drives us to invest has changed... What has changed is our sense of what constitutes wealth... With these innovations, we can all work more effectively to make the world a healthier, safer place for our children.”

by Adam Connaker (Sr. Associate at The Rockefeller Foundation) and Saadia Madsbjerg (Managing Director at The Rockefeller Foundation and co-author of The Innovative Finance Revolution (Foreign Affairs, 2016)).

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“Consumer priorities shift when we are not directly touching a product. [For example,] It means we are less likely to pay more for hamburger meat from a cow that ate organic grain - since we never come in contact with the cow’s feed.”

What it’ll take to reshape our food system:

diversifying our food production

making conventional farms more sustainable

meanwhile, many of us will continue to pay extra for organic food - those purchases, combined with the progress driven by food companies and conventional producers, will add up to measurable change and put the food industry on a more sustainable track

by Josette Lewis, Associate Vice President with EDF’s Ecosystems program

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Some main predictions directly from the article:

fewer companies will take stands on issues of public policy (esp. about social and environmental changes)

more formal classes in corporate social responsibility and sustainability (e.g. executive educations course at Harvard Business School and the Wharton School of Business)

more disaster prevention, less relief (from a reactive approach to more of a proactive approach of helping communities)

expect generation Z-ers (those born after the mid-1990s) to demand better and easier-to-use technology, more flexibility in the workplace, more freedom of choice, and greater degrees of acceptance and transparency in the workplace and marketplace - they are particularly interested in seeing companies address issues of global poverty and hunger, the environment and climate change, and human rights

by Timothy J. McClimon

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This article laid out an overview of most environmental issues and topics in 2018, mainly in the US. Each topic was critically mentioned and the witty words of the writer pointed out the challenges that worth thinking through. A must read to conclude the last month of 2018.

Some notes:

“According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), [we have about 12 years left] to avoid some of the most devastating impacts of climate change... climate change could knock at least 10% off of GDP... if both [Antarctica and Greenland] ice sheets go, sea level rise could result in the loss of the Atlantic seaboard including Boston, NY, D.C., FL, London, Stockholm, Denmark, etc... 

This year [2018] the weather devastation around the world got ‘biblical’... The consequences of these extremes are not theoretical. In the U.S. alone, the economic cost to [environmental issue] was $306 billion in 2017...

But more broadly, society will not thrive in a world where entire pillars of planetary support are collapsing. And if society can’t thrive, neither can business... 70% of [UK] banks are viewing climate as a financial risk, not a CSR one.”

by Andrew Winston, co-author of the best-seller Green to Gold and the author of Green Recovery.

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“The gap between what’s technically feasible to make the circular economy a reality and what’s happening in practice is enormous.” - Beril Toktay, Director of the Ray C. Anderson Center for Sustainable Business at Georgia Tech.

“Collaborations are developing quickly to fill the void of political leadership in the US. Indeed, developing norms and expectations and aligning incentives for success is nothing else than what you can expect from good regulation. Of course, those partnerships still lack the urgency that stricter regulation could bring.” - Neil Malhotra, Contributor to Forbes.

by Neil Malhotra

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“It is a misconception that expensive in any way equates to sustainable or durable (it’s worth remembering that cheap clothes often mean labor exploitation)... There’s no correlation to say that price will give you an indication to say which product will wear out.” - Dr. Mark Sumner, a lecturer in fashion and sustainability at the University of Leeds.

“Look for the best-quality fabrics you can afford, and treat the clothes you buy with the utmost respect, care, and love. Your clothes - whatever the price tag - will repay you with years of service.”

It is true that there’s no correlation between price and durability because sustainable/ethical fashion products can be made from degradable materials to prevent landfill and waste issue. However, that extra $5 or $10 we pay for the socially responsible fashion products can not only help the person who makes your clothes receive fair treatment but also save our own health and the planet from waste and toxins.

by Tamsin Blanchard

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“The recent National Climate Assessment revealed that regional economies and industries dependent on natural resources are increasingly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. Climate change doesn’t just threaten ecological balance, it threatens corporate balance sheets.”

Four critical steps include:

Set big, audacious goals - e.g. science-based targets and commitment to clean energy.

Collaborate for scale - e.g. cutting emission across the entire supply chain from factories, farms, and beyond.

Engage proactively on environmental policy - policy can set a level playing field and drive innovation in the right direction.

Accelerate environmental innovation - also brings business advantage to help meet consumer demand for sustainable products.

by Tom Murray, Environmental Defense Fund

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We can all do at least something to help reduce our carbon footprint!

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West Wycombe Park, West Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, England

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there’s no place like home