So you buy fair-trade or eco-friendly products, and you think that is a good thing, right? Think again. What if so-called ‘ethical consumers’ are the very ones standing between us and sustainable future? I’m crazy, right? Maybe, but here is why I say it. By creating a premium-priced, niche market for ‘ethical consumption’, companies have…
When archaeologists recently announced that they had just discovered the ape-like remains of our primitive ancestors in South Africa, it was hailed as homo sapiens’ ‘missing link’ – the genetic bridge between modern humans and their older, less evolved predecessors. Yet, perhaps it was not the only missing link to be found in 2011. As…
Monitoring carbon is a key corporate social responsibility issue. Carbon management and reduction, particularly within the built environment, construction and facilities management sector should be seen not only within sustainability/environmental terms but also as a lens to understanding wider CSR impact. In ‘Taking stock of your company’s social impact’, part of the Guardian Sustainable Business…
If in 2007 you were to tell someone that just four years later we would live in a world where banks are nationalized (to bail out a failed economic system), nature is privatized (to generate new wealth from ecosystem services), and the Middle East was the centre of the universe for democratic revolution (following the…
That Umesh Kant Pandey died in a blaze of last-minute front-page glory is beside the point. That he died a totally useless death because of the careless impulse of a raving, thoughtless crook is the point. The point is also that his death is unmourned. There is no statement from society’s leading mouthpieces, no campaign…
Corporate social responsibility (CSR) was an alien term for the majority of Indian businesses until a few years back. The ‘term’ became a ‘concept’ over time, yet has remained more alien than not. There are as many interpretations as there are talking and decision-making heads”for some it is philanthropy, for some it is an obligation,…
The cold hard truth, as we know, is that the mismanagement and over-consumption of natural resources is unsustainable. According to UNEP’s International Resource Panel (IRP), we need to decouple human well-being from resource consumption by linking local or national development strategies to resource flow strategies. Their analysis concludes that by 2050 the level of resources…
When an established cinema actor”and one who hails from one of the ‘first’ ‘Bollywood’ ‘families’”asserts that he will not permit his daughter to join the same industry that has earned him and his family wealth, fame, and adulation (and the attendant by-products), the mind comes to a standstill. At least for a second or so….
In the eyes of a newcomer, most things commonplace appear to be out of the league of ordinary and seem to be very bright on the edge of their comprehension. Two such innovative creations in different projects of CARE India also caught my attention, as I tried to permeate through the different programme strategies being…
In the spirit of the theme of the conference I attended in Bonn (Resilient Cities: 2nd Annual World Congress on Cities and Adaptation to Climate Change, June 3″5, 2011), I was pleased to overcome the shock and surprise of the Icelandic volcanic ash cloud and an e-coli food outbreak to share my latest research insights…
