It is not easy to track down at time s green and sustainable business partners and alternatives across the board in many differing industries.This is because of many factors ,for example not promoting themselves as green initiatives,not using the net,not being in the mainstream marketplace or simply a business that is still under a conversion process of change.Of course there are other more complicating factors in that there is no standardised method of analysing and registering a 'sustainable business in Australia by and large ,though there are standards that one can adhere to get some acknowledgement and certification rights...but in the main this hasnt been such a seller..till now when the public is starting to attempt to get ethical and to cope with the implications of climate change...suddenly sustainability is becoming sexy.Here is one company i have briefly had a look at.If you know of many others please feel free to refer to them and let us have a look.
http://www.neco.com.au/business/about.html
Wednesday, February 21, 2007
New Zealand aspiring to be a completely sustainable nation
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Sunday, February 11, 2007
Sustainability as an all encompassing Ideal
I am involved with a number of sustainability tinged projects that encompass many differing aspects and themes that I categorise all under differing aspects of sustainabuility.These activities are not all mutually exclusive ...but linked in my mind as differing aspects of the active exploration of what it means to live a lifestyle which encompasses both Personal ,private and professional choices and activities in the 'real' world .
For myself this means continually reflecting upon the meaning that such a concept has for me in these perceived interlinked and interwoven worlds of activity.I need a scaffold and view as to how all these many activities are linked and impact upon each other.
This has especially been brought home to me by being involved in many differing environmental,OHSE and social justice groups over the years...let alone the workplace circumstances and changes wrought by building relationships both personal and professional in an everchanging and tightly networked world and indeed diverse versions of community within which I must work ,operate and relate within.These are of course all various spaces...but they are more than that,... I am swimming in an almost imperceptible and confusing ecosytem of relationships,impacts and ties that are being created and made more and less visible by things like the internet and various ICT influenced activities as well as an increasingly important theme that is starting to grip people in all aspects of their lives...'world and local climate change'
All this of course requires a type of scaffold or analysis /working world view that moves and categorises quickly to understand at any one point where an individual or group is navigating in whatever circumstance where they are heading,living and expressing the type of lifestyle they want to live in,culturally,communally and politically...How to do this... a big ask ...I know!?
This question of where I sit ,what I believe and want to navigate to in all areas of my life becomes increasingly important as I try to understand the deep impacts of choosing to live a balanced sustainable and more integrated lifestyle with all my relationships and activities ...in some sort of harmony.Complicated stuff.
How does one live a'sustainable lifestyle" given some of the contexts I live in?
Lets have a look at what can be done to illucidate some of this stuff.
The contradictions and bizarre realities of existance at this point in time hit me as I reflect upon my own personal position.
I am involved in an organisation called SPA...Sustainable Practitioners Association on the management committee and its professional development sub committee.This activity I carry out as an end result of experiences in many fields but most recently my experiences as working within a OHSE team( Occupational Health Safety &Environment) advisor with my company TCC Group who operate as contractors to a large multinational... in BP Amoco's Refinery In Kwinana Western Australia(in the belly of the beast so to speak).Without the full experiential history which has led me to this place I am confronted with many ethical and challenging decisions and balances that I have to confront given all the realtionships I have and my view of the impacts of our oil based /industrial econmies and its excesses upon world climate change,poverty,land use and degradation of both land and worker alike to some aspects.Its not all bleak of course...but the way that we work impacts upon many balances being required and relected upon to put them back into some sane sense of growth and'sustainability'.
I need to accept that the personal is political and that now than ever before our individual and collective choices mean more and indeed mean less!?
I suppose what I mean to say is that things like the global digitising of our spaces/relationships etc has meant a shallowing rather than necessarily deepening of some of our understanding of the degree of influence we have on global and local impacts and politics and policymaking.
Things like the internet both give us great collective and individuals potentials for power and influence ...but they also shallow,trivialise and disempower us as a result of its faceless (at times) ubiquity and technology.
We are linked in many more ways that I can nor others I am sure appreciate easily today...and yet we are being asked and indeed I think it is essential we answer the question...who are we and what do we believe?What sort of world do we want to live in ...now and for our future generations.What will we leave of our relationships to the natural environment and to our own essential communal/individual and personal natures...what sort of culture are we creating?
Where are the links?we all need some sort of map to understand where we are heading?...even if we dont want to go anywhere in particular(might just want to know where we are now!).
thats why I am always looking for obscure links and signpostings to make sense and connecte and integrate my actions and life.Whats the map?
For me it more about socially just and productive /growthful relationships across the board...not just some highly impractical hippy,trippy green belief system(though I have always got a foot in their camp I suppose because they have signposts to the type of lifestyle,vision and world view they have for this planet).Its understanding the responsibilities and accountabilities of being connected,neighbours,influencing and impacting and interrelating in a world that needs atype of dynamic balance to function well in all aspects spheres of activty...both personal and global.
what does this mean for me?
In brief it means that OHSE is about creating safe,health and wellness balanced relationships with the industrial context that is sensitive to and accepts and promotes sensitive,growthful...but not toxic and wasteful uses of all environmental assets and aspects that we have responsibility for.It is also about quality...providing quality work that does not create destructive behaviours ,nor industrial,social impacts that are 'toxic'.Its about innovation as a result.!..that means organisational change that is more sensitive to such issues...It gets back to where we see that work even in its lack has a key role in this societal dilemma....that I and you and all are confronted with...its a challenge that has a high risk and price attached.
Some useful links;
David Suzuki Foundation
BP Environment /Sustainability
First Monday
AOIR
Fibreculture
Matthew Fox
Matthew Allen
WWF &Sustainability
Drawbacks in a networked world!
A Drawback of the Information Age
>From Christian Science Monitor, February 9, 2007
By Jeffrey Shaffer
http://www.freepress.net/news/20962
I¹m thinking it might be a good idea for every major city in America to have a guy like Joe Turner on the payroll. He¹s the fictional CIA agent portrayed by Robert Redford in ³Three Days of the Condor,² a 1975 thriller that¹s one of my favorite spy movies.
In the film, Joe is a researcher in a clandestine agency office in New York City. He reads books and other publications from around the globe and picks out information that might indicate an awareness of secret CIA operations.
In today¹s world, he¹d also be watching hours of TV, scanning for clues to potential nefarious activities. Boston could¹ve used a guy like him last month when reports came in about strange electronic objects planted around the city.
I feel that Joe would¹ve turned on his police scanner, heard a description of the blinking devices, and immediately called city hall to say, ³Don¹t shut down the highways yet. This sounds like a promotion for Aqua Teen Hunger Force. It¹s an offbeat animated series with a small audience. This kind of publicity stunt is right up their alley.²
Is it possible that no one in the Boston law enforcement bureaucracy is an avid fan of the Cartoon Network? I¹m not being sarcastic.
I¹ve mentioned in previous columns how hard it is for me to keep up with every detail of modern culture, and obviously I¹m not alone in battling this information gap.
The old saying that knowledge is power still holds true, but how does anyone with a thirst for knowledge avoid being drowned by the tsunami of information that crashes over us each day? My fear is that many Americans are sliding into a narrow groove that includes a few topics of personal interest, and everything outside the groove is simply ignored.
A recent Nielsen survey of Internet users found that 12 percent of American respondents had never heard of global warming. I¹d like to question those people more closely and learn how they decide what information is useful in their lives and what they don¹t care about.
It¹s a decision we all face constantly, and it never gets easier. A recent story in The New York Times explained that 10 publications in Washington carry a total of 14 columns focused on political gossip, up from only three such columns a decade ago.
I wonder what Joe Turner would do if I yanked him out of that movie and put him to work monitoring our cavalcade of modern media outlets? I have a feeling he¹d just shake his head and opt for early retirement.
This article is from Christian Science Monitor. If you found it informative and valuable, we strongly encourage you to visit their website and register an account to view all their articles on the web. Support quality journalism.
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https://attrition.org/mailman/listinfo/infowarrior
>From Christian Science Monitor, February 9, 2007
By Jeffrey Shaffer
http://www.freepress.net/news/20962
I¹m thinking it might be a good idea for every major city in America to have a guy like Joe Turner on the payroll. He¹s the fictional CIA agent portrayed by Robert Redford in ³Three Days of the Condor,² a 1975 thriller that¹s one of my favorite spy movies.
In the film, Joe is a researcher in a clandestine agency office in New York City. He reads books and other publications from around the globe and picks out information that might indicate an awareness of secret CIA operations.
In today¹s world, he¹d also be watching hours of TV, scanning for clues to potential nefarious activities. Boston could¹ve used a guy like him last month when reports came in about strange electronic objects planted around the city.
I feel that Joe would¹ve turned on his police scanner, heard a description of the blinking devices, and immediately called city hall to say, ³Don¹t shut down the highways yet. This sounds like a promotion for Aqua Teen Hunger Force. It¹s an offbeat animated series with a small audience. This kind of publicity stunt is right up their alley.²
Is it possible that no one in the Boston law enforcement bureaucracy is an avid fan of the Cartoon Network? I¹m not being sarcastic.
I¹ve mentioned in previous columns how hard it is for me to keep up with every detail of modern culture, and obviously I¹m not alone in battling this information gap.
The old saying that knowledge is power still holds true, but how does anyone with a thirst for knowledge avoid being drowned by the tsunami of information that crashes over us each day? My fear is that many Americans are sliding into a narrow groove that includes a few topics of personal interest, and everything outside the groove is simply ignored.
A recent Nielsen survey of Internet users found that 12 percent of American respondents had never heard of global warming. I¹d like to question those people more closely and learn how they decide what information is useful in their lives and what they don¹t care about.
It¹s a decision we all face constantly, and it never gets easier. A recent story in The New York Times explained that 10 publications in Washington carry a total of 14 columns focused on political gossip, up from only three such columns a decade ago.
I wonder what Joe Turner would do if I yanked him out of that movie and put him to work monitoring our cavalcade of modern media outlets? I have a feeling he¹d just shake his head and opt for early retirement.
This article is from Christian Science Monitor. If you found it informative and valuable, we strongly encourage you to visit their website and register an account to view all their articles on the web. Support quality journalism.
_______________________________________________
Infowarrior mailing list
Infowarrior@attrition.org
https://attrition.org/mailman/listinfo/infowarrior
Friday, February 09, 2007
An Underwhelming Truth
DEMOS is one of my favourite touch stones for sustainability information.This project is probably worth a very good look at.I havent come across anything quite structured the way that this thinktank is in Western Australia though there is a need and potential for many such organisations such as the Sustainable Practioners Association and The 'premiers roundtable' of experts and other university conncetde organisations like WASIG and ISTP at Murdoch.I fyou know of such resources please share them or drop us a line.
url="http://www.demos.co.uk/projects/anunderwhelmingtruth/overview"]An Underwhelming Truth
From awareness to action on climate change
2006 was the year of the eco-issue, Priuses on back-order, "An Inconvenient Truth" and Arnold Schwarzenegger's green coup. But is sustainability’s new look only skin deep?
* Project blog
* Overview
* Bookmarks
* Themes
In May of 2006, Wired called the eco-awareness ‘new’: “With climate change hard upon us, a new green movement is taking shape, one that embraces environmentalism's concerns but rejects its worn-out answers.”
But are we excited by all this? Actually, we are feeling overwhelmed by an up-close viewing of ‘climate porn’ (as the IPPR neatly labelled the climate change communication explosion), and underwhelmed by what the Labour government has done about it (and perhaps wary of David Cameron’s new emphasis on environment). Awareness can lead to discussion and action, but instead, we’re feeling disempowered.
Is sustainability’s new look only skin deep? One thing that's new is we seem to agree now is a tipping point. What characterises our consensus:
* It’s all about climate change. Scientists agree that recent dramatic increases in carbon are human-induced.
* Economists see increasing pressure on world resources in what will be an Asian century.
* Computing and information technologies are bringing us more data than ever before about environmental risks
* Technologies that leverage the properties of networks are maturing, with political implications
* In the wake of GM, science and technology are scrutinized for their potential negative outcomes alongside their professed benefits.
* Policy-makers recognize that environmental problems need to be tackled by many different actors at different levels of engagement.
* Small and large businesses worldwide are asking for and responding to policy direction as they take on more of what was traditionally the government’s role in delivering public goods and services.
* Individual initiatives and social entrepreneurship are gaining strength.
Our work on environment will explore ways that people are turning awareness into new kinds of climate change solutions. We welcome your comments.
del.icio.us my del.icio.us
* EU backtracks on CO2 targets for cleaner cars | International News | News | Telegraph
* FT.com / World / UK - Climate change concerts 'to dwarf Live Aid'
* FT.com / Europe - EU 'green crime' laws raise sovereignty fears
* Comment is free: Kept in the dark
* How mirrors can light up the world | | Guardian Unlimited Business
* Investing: Warning to business: Face climate change - International Herald Tribune
* Building A Sustainable Economy: David Suzuki Foundation (Canada)
* New Mobilities: Ce-more about what's happening in the mobile world
* 2OC - The Geo-pressure clean energy company
* Welcome to EcoEquity.org
* Beyond The Green Corporation - Business Week
* Climate of opportunity - With the shift of power in the US Congress comes an chance to re-engage in the debate over climate change. But the process will not be simple, says our new columnist David Goldston.
* Science /&/amp; Technology at Scientific American.com: Global Warning: As Paris Blooms in Winter, Scientists Debate Climate Change -- Members of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change are negotiating what many observers believe will be their most dire re
* More reflections on climate change | Climate change | Guardian Unlimited Environment
* WorldChanging: The Week in Sustainable Mobility
I am demos on del.icio.us
Add me to your network
Search:
Project Updates
RSS Podcast Email What are these?
Researchers
* Molly Webb
Themes
* carboneconomy
* climatechange
* development
* energy
* environment
* View All 17 themes.
[/q]
Tags: worn-out | up-close | underwhelmed | eco-issue | eco-awareness | back-order | Priuses | welcome | wary | Technology | rejects | overwhelmed | neatly | movement | mobile | labelled | increases | Government | feeling | excited | environmental | emphasis | embraces | discussion | Debate | Coup | Concerns | communication | Climate | called | business | action | wired | Warning | unlimited | TRUTH | SUSTAINABLE | SCIENTISTS | Schwarzenegger | Politics | Paris | news | labour | Ippr | inconvenient | guardian | Europe | david | Canada | awareness | Arnold
Wednesday, February 07, 2007
Corporate Responsibility?
This has alot of interesting material in regard to corporate and social responsibility to workers and communities alike that have been discussed recently at this international union forum
OnlinesWorld Economic Forum - Trade Unions Challenge Business Leaders on Company Tax, Private Equity and Corporate Responsibility
Illustration de l´article Brussels, 23 January 2007: A delegation of 12 international trade union leaders at the Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos this week will be calling companies to account on corporate taxation, the role of private equity investment and the social and environmental responsibilities of business.
With the launch of the campaign “Decent Work for a Decent Life”*, the union representatives will be putting the spotlight on major impediments to decent jobs in the global economy.
“The fact that corporate tax rates are plummeting around the world as countries engage in competitive tax-cutting is having a massive negative impact on resources for good public services. This makes the global challenge to create decent employment and tackle world poverty harder by the day”, said ITUC General Secretary Guy Ryder, who along with ITUC President Sharan Burrow will lead the delegation in Davos. “The main theme at the Davos forum, The Shifting Power Equation, raises many key issues about the direction of the global economy, and the fault lines which continue to exist” he added.
In their Statement to the Forum WEF Statement - Labour and the Shifting Power Equation, the labour leaders group analyses the growing shift of power away from working people, as fundamental rights at work are undermined, workers’ share in productivity gains diminish and social protection is a distant hope for many millions of people around the globe.
The union participants will also put the issue of private equity and hedge fund investment into the spotlight. With some US$600 billion in such acquisitions spent in 2006, double the amount of the previous year, questions about transparency, corporate governance and sustainability are critically important, not least for the working women and men whose employment, rights and working conditions are often threatened by the behaviour of these funds.
With economic growth remaining relatively high around the world, the phenomenon of “jobless growth” will also feature on the union agenda at Davos, where the labour leaders will also hold meetings with top officials of a range of intergovernmental institutions to push forward the call for global policy coherence with social and environmental concerns at the centre of decision-making.
Ryder and Burrow will be joined in Davos by ITUC Deputy President Luc Cortebeeck (CSC Belgium) OECD-TUAC General Secretary John Evans, leaders of national trade union centres Agnes Jongerius (FNV Netherlands), G Rajasekaran (MTUC Malaysia), Abdullah Muhsin (Iraqi trade unions), Mirai Chatterjee (SEWA) and Global Union Federation general secretaries Philip Jennings (UNI), Anita Normwark (BWI), Fred van Leeuwen (EI), Neil Kearney (ITGLWF) and David Cockroft (ITF).
“Decent Work for a Decent Life” brings together the ITUC, European TUC, Global Progressive Forum, SOLIDAR and Social Alert in a worldwide campaign to place decent work at the centre of national and international social, economic, development, financial and trade policies. For the alliance, the notion of decent work comprises a fair job, adequate pay, social protection, trade union rights and non-discrimination.
Founded on 1 November 2006, the ITUC represents 168 million workers in 153 countries and territories and has 304 national affiliates. http://www.ituc-csi.org
For more information, please contact the ITUC Press Department on +32 2 224 0204 or +32 476 62 10 18.
Source: ituc-csi.org
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Too Hot To handle?
Heat - When is it too hot to keep working?Excessive heat is both a health and safety hazard. Working in hot conditions can result in a number of adverse health effects - ranging from discomfort to serious illness and even death.
Unfortunately, in Victoria there are NO specific statutory or regulatory limits on the temperature to which workers can be exposed. But that doesn't mean that you can't do anything for your members regarding excessive heat in the workplace - your employer is expected to prevent your workplace being uncomfortably hot. Your employer has a duty of care under the Victorian Occupational Health and Safety Act (2004) to provide a healthy and safe workplace. According to the Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety, 35 - 40°C is considered to be the 'limit of high temperature tolerance' for most people.
If heat has been a problem you have tried to address at the workplace before and the employer has not done anything about it, then:
1. Collect evidence of the problem - talk with your members, do a survey, check temperatures, absences, ask people to fill in Heat - related Incident Investigation Forms (download from the 'Heat and Work' hazards page), etc.
2. Make an appointment to meet with the employer again.
3. Initiate negotiations to control the hazard at source.
4. Propose that a heat policy be developed in consultation with management and members.
5. Contact your union or a WorkSafe inspector.
If management does not agree that it's a problem, or negotiations are taking too long, then inform management that you will be issuing a Provisional Improvement Notice (PIN) based on your belief that he is contravening the Act, in particular, Sections:
* 21(1): provide and maintain so far as is practicable for employees a working environment that is safe and without risks to health
* 21(2)(a): plant /&/amp; systems of work
* 21(2)(c): maintain the workplace...in a condition that is safe and without risks to health
* 21(2)(d): provide adequate facilities for the welfare of employees at (the) workplace
* 22(1)(a): monitor the health of the employees
* 22(1)(b): monitor conditions at (the) workplace
(Check which of the above is appropriate)
The Victorian Code of Practice for Workplaces also refers to heat:
* Section 48: The workplace environment should be maintained wihthin a temperature range to protect employees from thermal stress.
* Section 49: Ventilation, mechanical cooling methods and/or work practices should be arranged to counteract excessive heat.
Note: as of July 1, 2005, the information in this code is considered to be part of the 'state of knowledge'. It may or may not become a Compliance Code under the 2004 Act.
There are many steps which employers may take to assess risk and provide more comfortable working during hot weather. These include:
*
providing adequate ventilation, and fans (but above 27°C fans are ineffective at cooling the air);
*
providing portable air cooling cabinets, which may reduce the air temperature by up to 6°C;
*
providing properly designed ventilation, air conditioning will be most effective, and ensuring it is properly maintained so it does not break down in the middle of a heat wave;
*
reducing heat gain via windows by reflective film or blinds, and by reducing window area, and moving desks and workstations away from windows;
*
allowing staff to dress appropriately for hot weather, e.g. allowing ties, tights or jackets to be removed or shorts to be worn;
*
if it is impossible to provide a comfortable air temperature, or as a temporary measure until a permanent solution is put in place, reducing staff exposure to hot work. This can be done through frequent rest breaks in a cool area where cold drinks are provided, job rotation, or altering work during the hottest part of the day.
For more information and advice, go to the page on Heat on this site.
If your members are complaining of extreme heat, or if someone has either fainted or there has been another heat-related incident the situation is such that there is an immediate risk to health. In this circumstance, the VTHC recommends the following:
1. Make sure the worker is OK - organise first aid or whatever other assistance the worker needs;
2. Direct that work in that section cease [as per Section 74(1) of the Act];
3. Go to your employer/supervisor immediately to advise them of the incident and the stop work and to discuss what actions need to be taken now;
4. Complete a "Heat - related Incident Investigation Form" (go to the page on Heat on this site)
Source: ohsrep.org.au
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