“B Corps”, started in 2006, are a new type of company that uses the power of business to solve social and environmental problems. It aims to certify businesses that serve a globally responsible initiative. If you care about sustainability, social equity, eco-energy, ethical business, saving the planet or things like that consider using companies on …
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Author:astraea
There’s nothing wrong with hard work, unless …
Working hard is fine, and many people have to work hard just to get by, but whether it’s by choice or necessity when it makes you sick, stressed, stupid, off-balance and disengaged, the balance is wrong. The Washington Post offers 5 reasons why you shouldn’t work too hard, at least from an American perspective. What …
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Open management.
Being an advocate of open management systems, an article by Inc. Magazine: Why You Should Let Your Employees Do Whatever They Want, drew attention. Caution, however, was raised by the tag line: “Focus and discipline are relics of 20th century business. Here’s what’s taking their place in the virtual, open source era”. No, sadly, that …
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Linking weird weather to rapid warming of the Arctic
Professor Jennifer Francis recently presented evidence showing that the loss of Arctic summer sea ice and the rapid warming of the Far North are altering the jet stream over North America, Europe, and Russia and these profound shifts increase the likelihood of more extreme weather. The so-called jet stream has increasingly taken a longer, meandering …
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Show love! Philanthropy doesn’t match wealth growth.
The Chronicle of Philanthropy notes that “Gifts surge from US donors“. That’s good, especially in difficult times. But BloombergBusinessWeek read between the lines and saw that “Billionaires’ Wealth Is Skyrocketing. Their Philanthropy Is Not“. Sadly. It is unfortunate because this is another sign of a widening wealth gap between the top and everyone else, between …
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A minimum wage stimulates the economy?
I’ve always been against the hand of the state in private decisions and forcing a minimum wage is one of those interferences which has always grated. However, in a world where technology is raising productivity and reducing the demand for labour there ought to be a popular desire for everyone to have the ability to …
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Farming in the city.
It’s a cute idea and seems to have much merit. Put a fish farm in a shipping container, plonk a hydroponic greenhouse on top and “hey presto” you have a self-contained, eco-efficient food production system that can sit in a small garden or yard behind your house or urban industrial/commercial building. ECF Farmsystems Containerfarm claims: …
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We get what we choose.
That’s a bit like “we get what we want” except that often we don’t realise what we are choosing. We grab the sweet, but ignore the consequences of rotting teeth, obesity and diabetes. We put the pedal to the metal and our foot to the floor, but ignore the consequence of pollution, collision and climate …
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A “Tidal Wave” of Cancer.
Those are the words used by the World Health Organisation to describe the trajectory of the growth of new cancer cases. They predict a jump from 14 million a year now to 24 million new cases per year by 2035 – about 2.5% growth a year (compounded). That better be faster than the growth of …
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Maps that explain the world
This article in the Washington Post presents 40 maps that explain the world. They are all interesting and easy to digest. The three maps below are examples which illustrate key issues the world grapples with now. This map shows where the wealth is. It shows national wealth and density of people, but not individual income. …
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