Why the military must(n’t) invade our schools

In yesterday’s Telegraph there was an article titled ‘Why the Military must invade our schools’ and whilst this might have a simplistic attraction in the situation we find ourselves in as a society, it fails to address the reality we are now in. Fragmented as society of’ individuals’ in a future where the Common Good must be placed centre stage as the energy and resource intensity of our society, SystemUK, inevitably falls.

Radio and Television programmes abound, Panorama last night for instance, but none recognise this fundamental reality. The Seventies were the beginning of the future we are now in, only with outcomes differed was a result of the exploitation of North Sea Oil. Which we squandered on Business as Usual, creating no reserve for the transition to the future we are in.

As a consequence, neither did we educate for this reality and the common purpose and action this future requires. The ‘Service for the Nation’ required of us all.

We are now in a world of fire-fighting failure demand and looking for End of Pipe solutions to Society’s Failure Demand. Such is the reasoning behind ResPublica’s genuine concern. Failing schools, send in the military to sort out the problems.

But we are all in this together for the Common Good, and whilst it is eminently sensible to encourage military personnel to take up the work mentioned in the article, dealing with the issues in separate boxes does not solve the problems at system level, SystemUK.

We thought resources were plentiful, to squander as we thought fit as individuals, rather than the reality; limited and needing to be marshalled for the Common Good.

In this future we must all be expected to act for the Common Good, bankers included!. This can only be achieved by educating for and implementing, universal and compulsory ‘Service for the Nation’ , not military discipline in a forlorn attempt to contain the Failure Demand created by not doing the right thing right as a Society.

There are difficult times ahead but we must start now if we are to ensure a coherent and competitive society rather than a failing one. There are scenarios out there we do not   need to let happen.

dd

 

Greece and Essential Value, a letter to a friend

To Catarina Tully at From over Here

Hi Cat

Sir David King has just made the following statement: Sir David King lambasts Treasury for preventing green economic recovery http://bit.ly/M1AxgG

How do we get the message across that it is not about ‘resource efficiency’ but about the ‘effective’ use of resources creating ‘essential value’. This is not an easy discussion to have, but if we don’t face up to this as a society we will end up in the situation in the book just released. http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2012/jun/08/why-uk-no-longer-superpower

If we continue to muddle along on the basis that completely free enterprise can find a way forward when the marginal cost of producing a barrel of oil is over $90 and the useful energy remaining is on a downward trajectory, we are deluded. http://vimeo.com/43261566

We see in Greece the effects of the reducing Energy and Resource Intensity of a Society and Economic Block that does not recognise what is really happening.

Chandran Nair does recognise this and is doing his best to make Asia aware of the situation: as Asia tries to grow using the multi-planet paradigm this contagion can only spread. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5_CL2imxmeE

These are Global issues but we must act as SystemUK if we are to be competitive and provide inspiration to others on the art of the possible. Are we the innately ingenious people we think we are, or was our prosperity purely a result of the Energy and Resource Intensity we were able to exploit?

The answer is probably a lot of both and we need to recognise this if we are not to squander this innate creatively and ingenuity as the Energy and Resource Intensity of SystemUK inevitably falls.

Regards

Derek

http://trailblazerbusinessfutures.wordpress.com/governance/seminar-resources/lc/

---

My letter in the Professional Engineering Journal 2007

Engineers are supposed to be mathematically literate but a simple understanding of compound interest is all that is needed to see that the current predictions of growth are the pipe dreams of economists.

Take a chess board and put one unit on the first square, 2 on the second and 4 on the third and continue doubling up. The time to each doubling is 70 divided by the rate of growth i.e. 7%/annum is equal to 10 years.

Add the squares together 1+2+4 = 7 i.e. the sum of all previous doublings is less than the value on the next square – 8

Oil was first commercially exploited in 1859 and we are now at around 30 billion barrels/year and on the 32nd square. At the present rate of growth we will need more oil in the next 20+ years than in the previous 150!

Even if this amount of oil exists, finding, extracting and applying unknown technologies to turn the poor quality, heavy, and polluted crude we obtain into useable product is clearly not possible on this time scale.

And that’s without the climate crisis and the fact that we need a fair amount of the remaining oil to create a low carbon future.

Derek

Derek Deighton MIQA AIEMA AMIMechE

Coordinator, Northwest Engineering Institutions, Sustainability Joint Venture

Northwest Energy Forum

Trailblazer Business Futures, Business and Built Environment Systems Integration

Helping create the One Planet World through creative partnerships

 

Is Britain is preparing for Peak Oil the only way she knows how:

It has to be asked if the Riots this week have not been a Godsend to the governing elite in allowing them to prepare for the outcomes resulting from the ongoing. but unspoken, reduction in the Energy and Resource Intensity of SystemUK. This comment from Twitter today

Comment: Britain is preparing for Peak Oil the only way she knows how: Calling on the armed forces, and arming the police.

Read more http://bit.ly/mUv4uK

Peter Oborne speaks elequently today of the failings of the ruling elite in government and business http://tgr.ph/pqdVWP and it reminded me of my letter to him at the Daily Mail in July 2008 relating to an article, again about the state of the UK and the military.

DD

Dear Peter

          I am impressed with your article in the Mail today and I copy below part of the email to my MP I copied to you a short while ago.

“I don’t blame a particular person or party but we have a systemic failure of proactive action.

          The society we have created has replaced personal duty with personal freedom to the point that senior service personnel are now pointing out the incongruity of the reward those who are attempting to protect our way of life are receiving, referenced to others

          I want to be wrong, but soon, senior officers will be questioning the ability of our political system to deliver the actions needed to transition society to the low carbon future we will inherit, as I have said, by design or negligence.”

          The concept of political neutrality has been core of our armed services for centuries and British service personnel have been treated abominably on many occasions down these centuries

          It has been clear to me for years that our failure to be proactive and think holistically would lead to the point in history we find ourselves. I copy below my comment from 2002, which predicts the situation in which an outcome such as knife crime could develop. http://bit.ly/pVG3Md

          We are powering into energy oblivion and someone will need to take action, and Senior Officers must be aware that their ability to maintain a strategic and tactical capability will be seriously compromised by the time the new carriers and JSF are due to come into service

          This from the current edition of Business Week

“However, it appears that for at least the next five years, and possibly longer, the Saudis are likely to produce less crude than promised, according to fresh data on the kingdom’s oil fields obtained July 9 by BusinessWeek. Saudi officials have said they would increase production capacity to 12.5 million barrels a day next year, from the current 10 million barrels a day, and could even ramp up to as much as 15 million barrels a day if the market demanded it. As proof to a skeptical audience, the normally highly secretive Saudis were a bit more open, escorting journalists on a visit to their new Al Khurais field (BusinessWeek.com, 6/23/08), east of Riyadh, and disclosing some field data.”

http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnflash/content/jul2008/db2008079_865368.htm?link_position=link1

Regard

Derek

 

Britain’s energy consumption drops as people try to save money

We are now feeling the effects of following the Oil Curve rather than keeping ahead of it – the wrong way to balance the One Planet Equation

dd

29th October 2010

Over 50% of people are using less energy than they did a year ago in a bid to save money. That’s according to new research that shows as winter sets in and energy consumption is predicted to skyrocket, people are prepared to do whatever it takes to save power- with nearly three quarters of people citing financial hardship as the main reason.

And their efforts should be well rewarded as the research reveals each household could save £250 every year by making some simple energy saving changes.

But it’s not just the little things like installing energy efficient light bulbs and draft excluders that people are now doing, with many considering making big changes to their homes to save money and energy in the long run.

Over a third would now consider a home survey to see if renewable energy could be installed in their property while 40% would pay more to do up their home if it made it more energy-efficient.

Belt-tightening is also affecting what househunters are looking for when buying a house with energy efficiency now high on homeseekers’ wish lists…………………

full article at http://www.easier.com/79612-britain-s-energy-consumption-drops-as-people-try-to-save-money.html

 

A Green Investment Bank to power the economic recovery

A Green Investment Bank to Power the Economic Recovery

The AG have launched a new report that is a collection of articles written by leading commentators from finance and industry that put forward their views in regard to the scope, barriers and capitalisation for the Green Investment Bank. The Government is due to publish its policy proposals after the Comprehensive Spending Review in the Autumn.

Report can be downloaded here http://www.aldersgategroup.org.uk/reports

 

What’s Driving the Business Case for Carbon Management?

“In the past five years, an increasing number of companies have launched projects designed to measure their enterprise carbon footprint,” Makower said at the beginning of the webcast. “But who owns that data?”

Companies face the challenge of filling the gap between the executive team, which controls the budget, and the functional teams, which have the skills to those who can carry out the initiatives.

This is where the chief sustainability officer (CSO) can come in to play a pivotal role in moving corporate climate agendas forward. “We see it as critical,” Metcalfe said, pointing to Nixon Peabody and BA Systems as companies employing CSOs.

He also noted Dow Chemical‘s approach in combining the CSO role with that of the Chief Information Officer, leading to the establishment of a holistic view of sustainability and the incorporation of this type of thinking into Dow’s corporate strategy and value systems.

Metcalfe scribed the period between now and 2012 as a period of uncertainty for companies, characterized by short-term cost pressures and climate change regulations fragmented along geographic lines. The executive view of sustainability is generally low, Metcalfe said………………………….

Read more: http://www.greenbiz.com/news/2010/05/28/whats-driving-business-case-carbon-management?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+ClimateBiz+(ClimateBiz.com)&utm_content=Google+UK

 

Building Online Communities or teams?

Companies Shouldn’t Build Online Communities

by Boris Pluskowski

Forget about Communities. Don’t do it. Don’t even think about it. Oh I know that communities are all the rage currently – companies are falling over themselves to create, build and own their very own communities: But with all of these efforts out there, how many of them are yielding real tangible results for the sponsoring organization? It seems that the very concept of communities is a flawed one for most corporations – leading to wasted time, money and effort – and I think I know why……………………..

It seems to me that the failure companies are making starts right at the beginning with a badly formed misconception as to what they really need – and it’s not an online community – it’s an online team.

It may seem as if I’m nit-picking or playing with semantics in making this differentiation – but consider what this simple change in mindset would mean to projects as you think about how to build a great online team instead of an online community. All of a sudden you add dimensions of:

• Direction and Leadership
• Shared Goals, Shared Failures, and Shared Successes
• Ensuring Participation of Diverse Skill Sets
• Tangible Achievement
• Passion, Purpose and Loyalty

Whist still retaining all the collaborative, cooperative and creative structures usually associated with Communities.

I don’t know about you – but I know which one I’d rather build! You tell me – What’s the more  powerful concept?

Full article at http://www.business-strategy-innovation.com/2010/04/companies-shouldnt-build-online.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+business-strategy-innovation+(Blogging+Innovation)&utm_content=Google+UK

 

UK manufacturers embrace resource efficiency but reject eco-design

 

UK manufacturers embrace resource efficiency but reject eco-design

Peta Hodge

10th March 2010

Despite their greater commitment to resource efficiency, UK manufacturers – particularly SMEs – are reluctant to invest in ‘eco-design’ to reduce the environmental impact of their products.

This was a key finding from the latest survey of the sector’s environmental performance by the manufacturers’ organisation, EEF.

The survey of nearly 300 manufacturing companies across the UK, suggests that resource efficiency – particularly recycling, reduction of business waste and energy efficiency – is now embedded in the sector, with around 90 per cent of respondents having taken some sort of action in these areas.

Cost main driver for resource efficiency

Four in every five companies cited cost savings as the main driver behind improving their environmental performance.

However, the survey found the take–up of eco-design – which focuses on reducing the ‘whole-life’ environmental impact of the product from raw material acquisition, through production and finally to recycling and disposal – to be “disappointing”.

Size matters in this respect. Almost three quarters of the largest companies (employing more than 500 staff) have introduced, or are planning to introduce, eco-design strategies. Whereas a mere 34 per cent of the smallest companies have similar plans………………

full story at http://www.greenwisebusiness.co.uk/news/uk-manufacturers-embrace-resource-efficiency-but-reject-ecodesign-1206.aspx

 

Educating for the One Planet World

The video clip at the link below shows the need we have to communicate our new reality, but we also know that it hard to learn a second language later in life and this where we stand now as economies.

We have all learnt a language from birth that is shaped by the multi-planet lifestyle we are trying to lead on the only planet we have.

We now have to learn a new language that is appropriate for our ability to communicate in the One Planet World we are entering. Like the Tower of Babel, we have fractured into many languages, quality, environmental, CSR, sustainability, H&S and others.

The critical need is to create an Organisational Esperanto to communicate the ‘sustainability journey of integrated continual improvement towards perfect quality’.

The ‘Babel Fish of Sustainability’ as Douglas Adams might call this Blog.

dd

Reshaping business education in a new era

 

JANUARY 2010

Source: Strategy Practice McKinsey Quarterly

This is a Conversation Starter, one in a series of invited opinions on topical issues. Watch the video, then share your thoughts by commenting

With rising interest in corporate social responsibility and increasing doubt in the sanctity of institutions, an evolving breed of MBA student is surveying the business landscape with a more discerning eye and demanding a new type of education. One person who feels this shift acutely is Blair Sheppard, dean of Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business. Sheppard has a prime view of this maelstrom of forces—changing expectations from students, different contours of global business, new management issues for educational institutions—and a unique perspective on what these portend for business students and business schools alike. He spoke in New York with McKinsey Quarterly editor Allen Webb about where MBA education stands in the wake of the financial crisis, and where he thinks it’s headed.

Watch the video, or download a PDF of the transcript.

Story and video (Free account needs creating) at https://www.mckinseyquarterly.com/ghost.aspx?ID=/Strategy/Strategic_Thinking/Reshaping_business_education_in_a_new_era_2500

 

We totally fail to see that ‘sustainabilty is a journey of integrated continual improvement

 Yet again we totally fail to see that ‘sustainability’ is a journey of integrated continual improvement towards perfect quality. The  initiative below is doomed to fail as it does not recognise this – there is no understanding of how we are to achieve these improvements – they cannot be delivered by a ‘sustainability manager’ only by ‘systems thinking’ .

dd

see http://trailblazerbusinessfutures.wordpress.com/2010/01/10/dr-deming-and-the-one-planet-world/

Corporate Sustainability is about to Change Forever…Are you Ready?

by Tad Radzinski

Over the past six months, two significant developments have put in motion a chain of events that will likely change the face of corporate sustainability forever.   Executive Order 13514, signed into effect by President Obama in November, mandates that government agencies must monitor and report their GHG output and comply with other environmental requirements including the reduction of waste and the use of “environmentally preferable materials, products, and services.”  Additionally, the order calls for 95% of all applicable federal contracts to also meet sustainability requirements. 

In the private corporate sector, in October, Wal-Mart, the world’s largest retailer, instituted the Wal-Mart Sustainability Index, a set of questions to assess the sustainability of suppliers with the goal of conducting a lifecycle analysis and ranking products according to environmental impact.  Wal-Mart rolled out the first phase of this project in October, and suppliers are already scrambling to participate in the Index and improve their sustainability score.Between these two initiatives, the federal government with its more than a half trillion dollar procurement budget, and the Wal-mart index which all but guarantees preference to vendors who are implementing sustainable practices across an organization,  businesses and organizations of all sizes, across virtually all industries, will soon be feeling the pressure to kick-up sustainability efforts.

What does ALL this Mean for YOUR Business?

Most sustainability watchers agree:  these two developments are just a precursor to what is sure to be mandated sustainability targets in the private and public sector.  Given that, forward-thinking companies, whether they are federal or Wal-Mart vendors or not, are already incorporating more greening into the corporate culture.  From a corporate perspective, as sustainability moves from being an option to a mandate, sustainability will soon provide a key competitive advantage in the marketplace.  

So how can the average company get ready for what’s coming?  Here’s a short checklist of processes and actions to get you started:

• Hire or appoint a corporate sustainability officer.  Like any other critical business function, your sustainable program needs a leader.  The federal government agencies are now mandated to fulfill this job function and savvy private companies are doing the same.  One caveat:  if you appoint a sustainability officer with little or no expertise in the field, make sure he or she receives training or consulting services from an experienced and credible agency (e.g., see the courses and designations by the leading credentialing orgainzation for sustainability professionals, the Institute of Green Professionals).

full story at http://digg.com/u1JwAk