David and Goliath

This is a really inspiring project from the WWF.
I believe this project has real promise. We need to get the companies with us instead of fighting against them, especially the big multinationals. I'm not saying it's easy, but neither is fighting against such a powerful corporation.
David against Goliath is an inspiring story, but what would the result be if they work together?

Sustainable Business: Corporate Sustainable Responsibility

Businesses are realizing the need for sustainability policies. I'd like to think they establish these out of personal convictions or out of the goodness of their hearts, but the fact remains that business is based on supply and demand. Maybe some of the pioneers had a ideological reason for establishing the first businesses with social and/or environmental policies, but the truth is that there now is financial gain to be found in this.

Consumers are clearly becoming preferential to products that have been produced in a sustainable manner. While the financial aspects such as pricing are still very important, we can see that there are very few companies are now lacking corporate social responsibility policies.

In Sweden I remember quite a few public scandals caused by companies that were behaving in an immoral way. In this example it was focused more on the social rather than the environmental aspects, but there are certainly examples of every sort in most countries. A big scandal in Sweden was related to the international clothes chain, H&M. Evidence of sweat shops and child workers was presented in the media. This occurred not at H&M but at their supplier, but the public did not care and put the full resposibility in the arms of the clothes chain. H&M have since put in great efforts to repair their image and have improved greatly. They are now the proud owners of a CSR policy called "Conscious".

While the business sector almost by definition is creasing our natural resources (how else can they create a supply to consumer demand?), there is a positive trend to try to rectify or even reverse this. However, we must be careful not to fa ll in the trap of labelling and marketing. We must have mechanisms in place to regulate this type of CSR branding to make sure it is more than just words.

Sustainable Business: Consumer Awareness and Demand

Many argue that it is costly to be socially or environmentally sustainable, particularly for businesses, but consumers are becoming more and more aware. As we are witnessing the results of global climate change more intensively in our daily lives, we are starting to become more aware and more active in this area. It is a shame, but we really do believe it when we see it. Despite scientific evidence, we react much more strongly to real life experience.

Scientists have researched this for many years and climate science has been referring to our period as the "anthropocene" for a reason; this is a time of such abnormal climatic change that it must be due to human intervention. Though this research has multiplied over time, there are still many non-believers out there. Various conferences between nations have started to discuss this issue, which in turn have provided more financial support for science in this area. Where is this coming from?

The Climate Conference in Durban 2011 was a turning point as it received more publicity and debated a few controversial topics. The most controversial discussion was probably that of climate refugees. Many of the smaller pacific islands such as Kiribati will be flooded if global warming continues at the rate it is currently going and continuously increasing the global ocean levels. They requested refugee status, seeking refuge in neighboring Australia and New Zealand. This is a very controversial issue as it would require not only recognizing human induced climate change and the resulting rise in sea levels, but also that this poses a real threat to civilisations. It will involve creating and recognizing a new category of refugee; a climate refugee. This is turn will have new political consequences.

While I'd like to believe people are interested in science and up to date on the latest politics, I believe the biggest influence in climate awareness has been that of the daily life. For one, this conference brought attention to the fact that normal people will be impacted by this. People could lose not only quality of life, but even their homes and even countries. No matter that we are talking about relatively small countries in both area and population, the gravity of this situation has shocked people to awareness.

Not only does climate change threaten this specific area, we are seeing the effects of this more and more across the globe. While there is no certain proof yet of the connection to tectonic events such as earth quakes and tsunamis, there is already a suspicion that this is related. It is relatively certain however, that the climatic catastrophes of hurricanes, tropical storms, tornadoes and typhoons are becoming more and more frequent as well as more powerful. Droughts and floods are also becoming more frequent and more severe. This is an eye opener for us all and forcing us to rethink our habits and lifestyles. It is costing us too much to continue in the same manner

Consumers are starting to think more about sustainability issues and business is reflecting this. It is more common for businesses to have a sustainability policy of some sort as sustainability is becoming more profitable, resulting in a better market for conscious consumers. This is not infallible as many aspects are still lacking or insufficient, but it is a general positive trend that is making sustainable production more profitable and more common.