Sustainable Wealth

Building an economy based on reality.

2012-01-06T09:11:00.000-08:00

It's time that we completely wake up as a civilization to reality as it is: EVERYTHING IS CONNECTED.

Carl Sagan said it decades ago, "the new consciousness is developing which sees the Earth as a single organism, and recognizes an organism at war with itself is doomed."

We must evolve from using war to get our needs met. This means every one of us. Starting with the language you use. Become aware of all of the ways that you use military and warfare lexicon in your daily life - do you really want to war if you are here to create peace?

From this recognition we must build an economy of connection, of relationships. An economy of peace, rather than one of war. Simply that.

Enjoy the video.

"The Possibility for Profound Change in America"

2011-12-13T15:22:00.000-08:00

We're in the driver's seat for "The Possibility for Profound Change in America" an amazing lecture which recognizes each of us are responsible for systemic change for our civilization. I met Gar a while back and he's extraordinarily thought provoking. Inspiring, and worth the investment of time. Enjoy!

Gar Alperovitz E. F. Schumacher Lecture from New Economics Institute on Vimeo.

Book: "Economyths Ten Ways Economics Gets It Wrong"

2011-12-07T08:14:00.001-08:00

The challenge of our time is that our myth is that we have no myths.

Irony is, that we are still a deeply mythological culture and it is high time that our culture recognize the false premises and untenable myths that define our economic paradigm.

This is most recently highlighted by a blog from The Capital Institute which mentions a book on the myths of our economic viewpoint. Here's the blog entry:

"A Capital Institute shout out to Leland Lehrman for sharing with us David Orrell's eloquent cri du coeur found at the conclusion of Economyths, 10 Ways Economics Gets It Wrong. Leland calls the book "a brilliant reconstruction of economics that covers gender, happiness, fairness and other perspectives on economics in intellectually and mathematically rigorous ways without becoming unreadable." "

From the book:

"So, students. Decision time. You live at what many believe is a bifurcation point in human history. You've seen all the graphs with lines curving up like a ski jump. Human population. Gross domestic product. Species extinction. Carbon emissions. Inequality. Resource shortages. You know that something has to give. You've got an idea that the price isn't right. Maybe you're even suspicious that if the world economy does turn out to be a Ponzi scheme, you or your children are a little bit late to the game."

"You therefore stand at a fork in the road. You can take the orthodox route -- and risk ending up with a qualification as impressive as a degree in Marxist ideology right after the fall of the Berlin Wall. Or you can take a chance on regime shift by speaking up, questioning your teachers, being open to disruptive ideas, and generally acting as an agent of change. You can insist that the economy is a complex, dynamic, networked system -- and demand the tools to understand it. You can point out that the economy is unfair, unstable, and unsustainable -- and demand the skills to heal it. You can tell the oracles that they have failed. You can go in and break the machine. And then you can do something new."

I'm heartened by the fact that so many people have economics on the mind, and are independently coming to similar conclusions.

I trust that in coming years our economy will look much different, and work much better for the well being of humanity and all living beings on the planet.

We are the 100%

2011-11-20T15:20:00.001-08:00

An important ethos expressed in this film, words of my friend Charles Eisenstein, author of the recent book "Sacred Economics"

Social Complexity Theory as a framework for new economic models

2011-11-18T18:17:00.001-08:00

I have just learned from my brilliant friend Ron Schultz that he's the co-author of another book on complexity in the context of business. It is called "Coherence in the Midst of Complexity"

In my conversation with him, I learned that the ideas outlined in his book would most definitely apply in my field. I gathered that anyone who shares my passion for advancing the new frameworks in the fields of Sustainable and Responsible Investing would benefit from seeing the world through the lens of "coherence in the midst of complexity."

Here's an overview of Social Complexity Theory from the book's website.

"Complexity and emergence (the appearance and impact of the new) can be the bane of managers and their organizations. Both complexity and emergence threaten to upset adherence to predefined categories, which supposedly allows for efficiency. Indeed, traditional management thinking focuses on a retrospective coherence where ideas and events are assigned to categories, the categories are labeled, and outliers are treated as statistical deviants.

"The study of how such attributed (retrospective) sense-making breaks down in and around organizations is the focus of social complexity theory. Coherence in the Midst of Complexity discusses the social complexity approach, where dialogue and stories allow for the degrees of freedom needed for the opportunities of emergence to take root. The book focuses on the experience of coherence and how such experiential lessons differ from the establishment and maintenance of categories and labels."

"Social Complexity Theory examines the role of coherence and emergence in organizations. Coherence is regarded by many psychologists as critical to day to the day productivity and effectiveness of individuals. Both scholars and managers have adapted this belief to the world of management and organizations. Coherence is regarded as a sign of a well-run organization. But, the concept of a coherent thought defined as how well an idea holds together as a single entity gradually breaks down as the scale shifts to individuals, groups, and ultimately larger organizations.

"Adapting to and dealing with emergence is perhaps the most important task facing managers and organizations. Coherence as traditionally defined interferes with that task. By restricting the concept of coherence to measurement against definition (what we call ascribed coherence) managers and organizations implicitly are restricting their ability to deal with the unknown, the uncertain and the emergent."

"Social Complexity Theory provides another perspective on coherence -- rooted in the felt experience of coherence and in the importance of emergence. Richard Rorty tells us: Knowledge is not a matter of getting reality right, but rather a matter of acquiring habits of action for coping with reality. In common parlance such coping mechanisms are called models. The aim of Social Complexity Theory is to teach managers and members of organizations to make use of some very different models as part of their coping mechanisms."

Upcoming Movie - "Thrive"

2011-09-17T23:05:00.000-07:00

Thrive, a very important upcoming film with some friends in it.Here's a link to the trailer.

Greg Wendt Interviewed on "The Dr. Pat Show - Talk Radio to Thrive By"

2011-09-15T20:34:00.000-07:00

Click here to hear the show.

Contentment.

2011-08-28T15:49:00.000-07:00

From a Taoist Scripture - via a friend's text message:
"Don't chase after people's approval.
Don't depend on your plans.
Don't make decisions;
let decisions make themselves.
Free yourself of concepts;
don't believe what you think.
Embody the inexhaustible.
Wander beyond all paths.
Receive what you have been given
and know that it is always enough.
The Master's mind is like a mirror:
It responds but does not store, contains nothing,
excludes nothing, and reflects things exactly as they are.
Thus she has what she wants and wants only what she has."

Economics based on Beauty and Community: Putting Aesthetics back into the Economy

2011-08-20T01:39:00.000-07:00

Here's an article I posted on Ethical Markets Blog a while back - enjoy:

Right before I boarded a plane after a green business conference last year, I noticed a Body Shop store in the terminal next to the gate. The Body Shop was founded by the late Anita Roddick who was a very influential and inspiring thought leader who was one of the pioneering business people who incorporated social and environmental values into her operations.

As I thumbed through my reading materials I found an article in Resurgence Magazine by Roddick entitled “The Currency of Imagination.” This eloquent article laid out some of her guiding principles and reflections on being one of the only CEOs in the crowd of human beings who raised their voices against the globalization paradigm represented by the 1999 WTO meeting in Seattle.

In the article she laid out a new vision for society, a vision which I share, where we establish community and beauty as driving values for our individual and institutional decision making. I have learned that for any successful endeavor in new economic thinking to work, it must be built on a culture of trust and collaboration amongst the participants. Such ideas have inspired me in the efforts I have made in my region. I am the co-founder of Green Business Networking in Los Angeles, a monthly networking event which brings together entrepreneurs and professionals committed to greening our economy through their businesses and the Green Economy Think Tank which convenes sustainability leaders to evolve solutions for a green economy.

Somewhere along the line we picked up a virus in our culture’s source code. This virus misguided us by placing money and power as the central measuring sticks for success, all fed by a rapacious economic operating system driven by the gospel of consumerism. The ethos of our economy has become largely devoid of beauty and community, transactions have become ”complex, opaque, [and] anonymous based on short term outcomes” according to Don Shaffer, President of RSF Social Finance. Instead, he states our transactions need to become “direct, transparent and personal, based on long term relationships.” On a similar theme, Judy Wicks, founder of the White Dog Café, who is also a co-founder of the very successful movement “Business Alliance For Local Living Economies” lives these principles. She says that her business was built on the principle of “maximizing relationships” rather than “maximizing profits.” As a result of her focus, her business thrived with the satisfaction of higher sales, and happier people.

In the wake of the recent financial crisis, and the significant ills facing our world, it has become clear to many people that the prevailing economic paradigm is no longer working to improve the wellbeing of all of humanity. With climate crisis, declining ecosystems, billions in wretched poverty, food riots, childhood diabetes, etc. individuals and institutions are experiencing the severe ramifications of an avaricious and predatory economic model. However, there is another way.

"Money and Life - A Story about Money That Will Change Your Life"

2011-07-16T11:27:00.000-07:00

Just befriended Katie Teague who is making this amazing film "Money and Life" with interviews with my heroes and friends such as Orland Bishop, David Korten, Lynne Twist, Hazel Henderson, Ellen Brown, Stuart Valentine, Bernard Litaer, Charles Eisenstein who are some of the most inspiring people in this field I have met.

The movie articulates many ideas which are unexamined issues in our global culture which has by and large placed the money at the center of the altar.

So, since our global civilization worships the God of Money, or the accumulation of it, we are all well served to inquire into the nature of Money, and Life. And explore how we can work with money to heal, serve and increase life and well being for all residents of our world.

Lynne Twist states - "It's as if we, as a species, have realized we have a terminal disease and we need to come together in community and get ourselves through the crisis, and it will change the very fabric, the very nature, of our relationship with life itself."

Money & Life trailer from StormCloud Media on Vimeo.

The Empathic Civilisation Emerging For The Community of Our Planet

2011-06-14T22:13:00.000-07:00

Simply - as all disciplines of knowledge such as anthropology, biology, physics, psychology, economics, neuropsychology, etc. become more sophisticated and evolve, every discipline must also evolve in response to incorporate new world views. Further all the institutions of our culture - education, governance, religion, commerce, etc. are currently based on outdated world views. As the world views evolve, so must the institutions.

This video is one of the most succinct articulations of a vision of an empathic civilization based on solidarity with all life on the planet.

Public Banking - "Banking in the Public Interest"

2011-06-01T22:04:00.000-07:00

Excellent article was just written called "Reviving Main Street - A Call for Public Banks" highlighting the opportunity states across America have to restore a healthy economy - simply by creating a state bank.

Surprisingly, North Dakota is the only state in the union which has created its own bank.

The article highlights work of thought leader Ellen Brown , and the Public Banking Institute which educates policymakers about the opportunities from the straightforward process of forming a state owned bank.

Her site shares that:

"Public Banks are...
• Viable solutions to the present economic crises in US states.

• Potentially available to any-sized government or community able to meet the requirements for setting up a bank.

• Owned by the people of a state or community.

• Economically sustainable, because they operate transparently according to applicable banking regulations

• Able to offset pressures for tax increases with returned credit income to the community.

• Ready sources of affordable credit for local governments, eliminating the need for large “rainy day” funds.

• Required to promote the public interest, as defined in their charters.

• Constitutional, as ruled by the U.S. Supreme Court

...and are not

• Operated by politicians; rather, they are run by professional bankers.

• Boondoggles for bank executives; rather, their employees are salaried public servants (paid by the state, with a transparent pay structure) who would likely not earn bonuses, commissions or fees for generating loans.

• Speculative ventures that maximize profits in the short term, without regard to the long-term interests of the public."

The Fastest Growing Socially Responsible Business Movement in the Country....

2011-04-17T20:50:00.000-07:00

BALLE, The Business Alliance for Local Living Economies is a national effort of independent business networks in over 80 cities.

Green Business Networking, the non-profit business community I started in 2006, is the LA County BALLE network dedicated to serving LA Region's business professionals and owners building our green economy!

Here's an inspiring video about the BALLE effort, and conference - and look for my brief comment at 3:21 into the video:

Place Matters: Living Economies 2011 from BALLE on Vimeo.

Measuring our success and standard of living - it's not only about the money we make!

2011-03-24T19:24:00.000-07:00

There was a sign in Albert Einstein's office at Princeton which said: "Not everything that counts can be counted, and not everything that can be counted counts."

With our singular focus on money in our global culture, many carry the belief that simply "more money" equals "more happy". At a very basic level of subsistence more material goods and services in our lives are necessary for a degree of happiness, but beyond the fundamental level, there are diminishing happiness returns on every extra dollar of income or accumulation. All of us know in our heart of hearts that at for anyone who has their basic needs met, the "more money equals more happy" is not really true.

Then, how do we measure the standard of living or true well being happiness in a community or a region? Challenge is that our much of lives and well being do not all fall into the category of "economic activity." Yet the issue remains -- how do you MEASURE the level of progress and standard of living in all of the non-financial dimensions?

In his book "Prosperity without Growth - Economics for a Finite Planet" Tim Jackson states:

"There is an interesting overlap between components of prosperity and the factors that are known to influence subjective well being or 'happiness'. Indeed to the extent that we are happy when things go well, and unhappy when they don't, there is an obvious connection between prosperity and happiness. This doesn't necessarily meant that prosperity is the same thing as happiness. But the connection between the two provides a useful link into recent policy debates about happiness and subjective well being."

Some of the components of "quality of life" - real wealth - are loving relationships, supportive and vibrant community, good health, cultural and creative stimulation, healthy and vibrant natural environment, contributing to society in a meaningful way and spiritual fulfillment.

Yet, ironically, one of the key methods that most countries define standard of living is the measure of "Gross National Product" or GDP, which is simply a financial measure of economic activity. But to meet the Earth’s challenges, these outmoded ways of measuring the “product” of our economy have to be reexamined. They are out of touch with our finite supply of natural resources (or natural capital) upon which our economic growth depends and they are similarly out of touch with the non-financial dimensions of the well being of participants in a society.

Article - "What’s blocking sustainability? Human nature, cognition, and denial"

2011-02-26T15:40:00.000-08:00

We are in the midst of a paradigm shift from the old ways of understanding reality to a more sustainable civilization. William Rees wrote an article that articulates key concepts.

In summary he writes:

"In 1992, 1,700 of the world’s top scientists issued a public statement titled The World Scientists’ Warning to Humanity. They reported that “a great change in our stewardship of the Earth and the life on it is required if vast human misery is to be avoided and our global home on this planet is not to be irretrievably mutilated.” More than a decade later, the authors of the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment were moved to echo the scientists’ warning asserting that “[h]uman activity is putting such a strain on the natural functions of the Earth that the ability of the planet’s ecosystems to sustain future generations can no longer be taken for granted.” Ours is allegedly a science-based culture. For decades, our best science has suggested that staying on our present growth-based path to global development implies catastrophe for billions of people and undermines the possibility of maintaining a complex global civilization. Yet there is scant evidence that national governments, the United Nations, or other official international organizations have begun seriously to contemplate the implications for humanity of the scientists’ warnings, let alone articulate the kind of policy responses the science evokes. The modern world remains mired in a swamp of cognitive dissonance and collective denial seemingly dedicated to maintaining the status quo. We appear, in philosopher Martin Heidegger’s words, to be “in flight from thinking.” Just what is going on here? I attempt to answer this question by exploring the distal, biosocial causes of human economic behavior. My working hypothesis is that modern H. sapiens is unsustainable by nature—unsustainability is an inevitable emergent property of the systemic interaction between contemporary technoindustrial society and the ecosphere. I trace this conundrum to humanity’s once-adaptive, subconscious, genetic predisposition to expand (shared with all other species), a tendency reinforced by the socially constructed economic narrative of continuous material growth. Unfortunately, these qualities have become maladaptive. The current coevolutionary pathway of the human enterprise and the ecosphere therefore puts civilization at risk—both defective genes and malicious “memes” can be “selected out” by a changing physical environment. To achieve sustainability, the world community must write a new cultural narrative that is explicitly designed for living on a finite planet, a narrative that overrides humanity’s outdated innate expansionist tendencies. "

Davos Annual Meeting 2011 - Redefining Sustainable Development

2011-02-07T18:15:00.000-08:00

Institute for New Economic Thinking - Rethinking Economics

2011-01-28T11:26:00.000-08:00

"Overview

Founded in October 2009 with a $50 million pledge byGeorge Soros, the New York City-based Institute for New Economic Thinking is a nonprofit organization providing fresh insight and thinking to promote changes in economic theory and practice through conferences, grants and education initiatives.

The Institute recognizes problems and inadequacies within our current economic system and the modes of thought used to comprehend recent and past catastrophic developments in the world economy. The Institute embraces the professional responsibility to think beyond these inadequate methods and models and will support the emergence of new paradigms in the understanding of economic processes.

The Institute firmly believes in empowering the next generation, providing the proper guidance as we challenge outdated approaches with innovative and ethical economic strategy.

The Institute’s objective is to expand the conversation to create an open discussion for a wider range of people. Some would say that present day dialogue is closed and polarizing. We recognize the need for an environment that is nourished and supported by discourse, a discussion that spans a much wider spectrum of thinking and incorporates the insights of other intellectual disciplines in both the natural and social sciences.

The Institute was conceived during the first half of 2009 through a series of discussions that culminated at a summit in July of 2009 in Bedford, NY."

The co-founder of the institute Research in Motion’s CEO Jim Balsillie gave a particularly good talk as his participation in the panel at the World Economic Forum on the subject of "redefining economics," and rethinking the entire paradigm of the situation.

"Property is intended to serve life" - notes on the fact that corporations are not people.

2011-01-17T11:26:00.000-08:00

"Property is intended to serve life, and no matter how much we surround it with rights and respect, it has no personal being. It is part of the earth man walks on. It is not man."
Martin Luther King, Jr.

As a financial advisor, I advise people on their property - and much of that property exists in shares of corporations.

What is a corporation, more than simple property that are collectively owned and operated by human beings?

Oddly enough, however, somewhere in our legal code over the last 150 years such property was given the same rights and voice in our democracy as human beings. Most recently the supreme court has granted business interests unlimited spending in campaigns - thus granting corporations the rights of human beings in the democratic process of governing our society. There is an excellent article on the entire issue called "Wal-Mart is Not a Person" which gives a comprehensive overview of the topic, which excerpts Justice John Stevens of the supreme court:

"It might be added that corporations have no consciences, no beliefs, no feelings, no thoughts, no desires. Corporations help structure and facilitate the activities of human beings, to be sure, and their “personhood” often serves as a useful legal fiction. But they are not themselves members of “We the People” by whom and for whom our Constitution was established."

And most interestingly - if we really look at the point of view that holds that corporations are actually persons - then the question which human beings are actually represented by such corporations?

Stevens addresses this here:

"It is an interesting question “who” is even speaking when a business corporation places an advertisement that endorses or attacks a particular candidate. Presumably it is not the customers or employees, who typically have no say in such matters. It cannot realistically be said to be the shareholders, who tend to be far removed from the day-to-day decisions of the firm and whose political preferences may be opaque to management. Perhaps the officers or directors of the corporation have the best claim to be the ones speaking, except their fiduciary duties generally prohibit them from using corporate funds for personal ends. Some individuals associated with the corporation must make the decision to place the ad, but the idea that these individuals are thereby fostering their self-expression or cultivating their critical faculties is fanciful."

Not all businesses are corrupt, yet when it comes to the simple process of human beings coming together to design ways to serve life, the people that founded this country intended that actual people engaged in democracy. Thus it is imperative that we only grant constitutional rights to actual human beings, not property.

There are a number of movements afoot to amend the constitution, among them is http://movetoamend.org/ which states:

"We, the People of the United States of America, reject the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in Citizens United, and move to amend our Constitution to:

* Firmly establish that money is not speech, and that human beings, not corporations, are persons entitled to constitutional rights.

* Guarantee the right to vote and to participate, and to have our vote and participation count.

* Protect local communities, their economies, and democracies against illegitimate "preemption" actions by global, national, and state governments.

The Supreme Court is misguided in principle, and wrong on the law. In a democracy, the people rule."

The simple thought here to take away is that as citizens in this world to we must continuously refine our discernment of the true motive, and the consequences, of decisions, laws, candidates, proposals, and political movements. And to discern whether such laws actually serve the quality of life of human beings.

Article I wrote "Social Capital Markets Conference 2010: The Evolution of Money and Meaning" for Green Money Journal

2011-01-14T21:49:00.000-08:00

I thoroughly enjoyed this year's Social Capital Markets Conference. I wrote an article about it for Green Money Journal below.

"Social Capital Markets Conference 2010: The Evolution of Money and Meaning"

The very existence of the Social Capital Markets conference, known as SOCAP, says it all - over 1,300 vibrant, excited, inspired, brilliant leaders - philanthropists, social entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, micro-finance entrepreneurs, advisors, and consultants who joined together at San Francisco's Fort Mason in early October. They're all working with investing as a means to create better lives for the world's poor, restore and grow healthy ecosystems, foster social entrepreneurs, local food systems, local businesses, and more. All this was just a glimmer in the eye of SRI investors decades ago. Now, it is a reality.

It began this year for me the moment I took a photo of one of the receptions with my phone and posted it with this caption: "Tune in - turn on! Can you feel the Evolution happening? Social Capital Thought Leaders Meta Networking for the Common Good! It's REALLY happening all around the world and a thriving vortex in San Francisco! http://www.socialcapitalmarkets.net "

Estimates are that upwards of $120 billion of investment capital is now available for investments which have meaningful returns, while at the same time address environmental and social woes.

Read more »

Applying "Feminine Values" to guide leadership in Finance

2010-12-08T12:24:00.000-08:00

Axioms shared by Fincancier Halla Tomasdottir who helped to rebuild Iceland's financial system after the crash in her TED talk.

(1) Risk Awareness.
(2) Straight Talking. Use Simple Language that people understand.
(3) Emotional Capital. Emotional due diligence is as important as financial due diligence.
(4) Profit With Principles.

"Halla Tomasdottir, an Icelandic fund manager and founder of Audur Capital, a wealth management firm in Reykjavik, is certain that if women had been at the helm of Iceland’s economy and its major banks, the country would not have been brought to its knees."
The Daily Mail, March 28, 2009

Watch Video Here.

"Capitalism 2.0: How Big Money is Shifting Corporate Culture Toward Sustainability" Panel I moderated at the Global Summit -

2010-12-01T18:04:00.000-08:00

In November 2010, I moderated a panel discussion at The Global Summit conference in San Francisco.

The two panelists were leading thinkers in the sustainability: Andy Behar - CEO of As You Sow Foundation, who's mission is to "To promote corporate responsibility through shareholder advocacy, grantmaking, and innovative legal strategies"

and John Perkins - As Chief Economist at a major international consulting firm, John Perkins advised the World Bank, United Nations, IMF, U.S. Treasury Department, Fortune 500 corporations, and countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East. He worked directly with heads of state and CEOs of major companies. His books on economics and geo-politics have sold more than 1 million copies, spent many months on the New York Times and other bestseller lists, and are published in over 30 languages.

Here's a link to the video.

"Fixing the Future" Now. Realities and gifts of new economics models.

2010-11-25T13:00:00.000-08:00

I had the pleasure of meeting David Brancaccio at the SRI in the Rockies conference recently where he talked about the manifestations of a new economy. His video documentary on PBS called "Fixing the Future" will give you a better idea of his findings, and I trust give you visions of a new world awaiting us.

Watch the full episode. See more NOW on PBS.

"Of Human Wealth: New Money for a New World" by Bernard Lietaer

2010-11-22T11:56:00.000-08:00

Bernard Lietaer's new book "Of Human Wealth: New Money for a New World" outlines a pathway forward for humanity's monetary system.

"We can end the threats to our environment and aid dramatically in its restoration; we can help
provide meaningful work for all, with work that enhances and replenishes the world about us; we can effectively address fundamental urban and rural concerns and assist in the development of viable, sustainable communities; we can care for the sick and the elderly and provide all of our children with adequate shelter, healthcare, nutrition and decent educations. We can indeed create a better world where life and all living systems flourish. This is not an idealistic dream, but rather, a pragmatic attainment, and achievable within our very own lifetimes."

Collaborative Consumption - the economic operating model for the 21st Century

2010-11-13T11:17:00.000-08:00

Collaborative Consumption Groundswell Video from rachel botsman on Vimeo.

"Hazards of Prophecy: Failure of Imagination" Arthur C. Clarke's Three Laws

2010-10-31T12:23:00.000-07:00

From Arthur C. Clarke's "Hazards of Prophecy: Failure of Imagination"
I would replace "elderly scientist" with "many people."

When a distinguished but elderly scientist states that something is possible, he is almost certainly right. When he states that something is impossible, he is probably wrong.

The only way of discovering the limits of the possible is to venture a little way past them into the impossible.

Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.

We CAN create our own money - complimentary currencies!

2010-10-13T09:55:00.000-07:00

Part One:

Part Two:

How Big Brands can save Biodiversity - 25% of Top 15 commodities controlled by 100 companies

2010-08-30T19:30:00.000-07:00

Jason Clay of World Wildlife Fund says it straight - 25% of the top 15 commodities are controlled by only 100 companies.

There is massive opportunity for just making these companies shift to sustainable production and supply chains across the key commodities on the planet....

Watch here:

The Movie Avatar - is actually a documentary for how we have spread our civilization!

2010-08-15T10:58:00.000-07:00

Did you see Avatar? If not, there's no question why it's a blockbuster - one of the most entertaining films I have seen in years.

Of great interest to many is the story of the film - what it is telling us.

In India today - a company wants to blow the top off of a Holy Mountain to gain the 70 million tons of bauxite inside of it - and therefore destroy the sacred homeland of the Dongria people who have called this mountain their home for millenia. Something isn't working here.

This story is not isolated, it has played out over many generations, the most well known was the how the "conquistadors" - Columbus, etc. "discovered" America. Our culture's world view and related stories of history taught in our schools continue to allow for this destruction of life by framing the stories and celebrating the destroyers as leaders and heroes.

Read more »

Charles Eisenstein inteview from "Money and Life" Movie

2010-07-05T17:56:00.000-07:00

I deeply appreciate the conscious and insightful perspective which Charles Eisenstein to the conversations of money, value, quality of life and culture. Here's a video of some his thoughts from an upcoming film called "Money and Life"

Charles Eisenstein Interview for Money & Life Film from Charles Eisenstein on Vimeo.

"Inside Scoop on Green Business Networking" An article about a non-profit I co-founded

2010-07-01T12:10:00.000-07:00

The recent article in Whole Person Calendar "The Inside Scoop on Green Business Networking" covers the group I co-founded in 2006 called "Green Business Networking"

"Many people are interested in protecting the environment and want to engage in positive “green” business practices. They also want to meet like-minded people who also share similar lifestyles that evolve towards sustainability. But where do “green-minded people” go to network? Others may wonder if networking isn’t really just a disguised excuse to have a few drinks at a bar? GreenYour.com, “your guide to green anything,” has a good primer on how to find green networking events and offers this advice if you are deciding the pros and cons of green networking:

On the prowl for an eco-job? Recruiting for a conservation project in the community? Simply looking to connect and converse with like-minded folk? If you responded “yes” to any of the above queries, attending a green business networking event may be the solution."

Read the entire article here.

Ostrich, Musical Chairs or Plan B

2010-06-06T21:59:00.000-07:00

My friend Leslie Christian of Portfolio 21 Investments wrote an excellent piece in the "Reimagine Money" blog from RSF Social Finance. The post is on assessing our own views on how to deal with the ecological limits of our economic growth.

She writes: "As you think about your own response to risk, it’s unlikely that you will jump immediately from ecological limits to how much you should invest in stocks versus bonds versus real estate. It’s more likely that your responses fit into one or more of the following categories. You’ll notice that the risk responses below do not explicitly deal with investing, much less with traditional asset classes. Rather, they provide a way to examine your personal tendencies for dealing with risk, which is an essential precursor to forming an intelligent, risk-based investment strategy."

I agree, every time I discuss a situation with a client I do my best to assess how they feel about their response to risk.

She goes on to describe three different responses to risk: the ostrich approach, musical chairs or plan b.

Read her entire article here.

Growing slow money - a video from the slow money alliance

2010-05-07T21:24:00.000-07:00

My friend Woody Tasch is changing the world of money with his "Slow Money Alliance".

Here's a video from his effort to give you an idea of what it's all about:

Why does a hamburger cost less than a salad?

2010-05-04T14:58:00.000-07:00

NY Times article discusses food subsidies as rationale why our food costs are not in line with nutrition.

John Perkins - Shapeshifting Corporate Culture To A Sustainable Thriving World

2010-05-04T14:41:00.000-07:00

Reality Sandwich just published a wonderful interview with John Perkins - author of the best selling book - "Confessions of an Economic Hitman." In the interview he points to the opportunity, and responsibility we have to shift our global corporations to ensuring well being for all of Earth's inhabitants.

The interview finishes with an important opportunity:
Perkins states:

"Imagine if a number of us had the dream that Coca-Cola, McDonald's and Nike all committed to making sure that nobody in the world ever goes without sufficient water, food, or clothes. If we had that vision, we would tell those companies, look, we're never going to buy anything more from you until you do this.

Coca-Cola is like Godzilla. Can you really see it responding to these kinds of demands?

Immediately following the tsunami last winter, Coca-Cola sent millions of bottles of water to the victims. But every day 24,000 people in the world die of thirst. and starvation. You don't have to wait for a tsunami—there is a much bigger tragedy. If people have that vision and begin to act upon it, I guarantee you that Coca-Cola will change, and if Coca-Cola changes, then Pepsi Cola will have to change too. And everybody else."

Goldman v. United States: What It Means

2010-04-29T00:47:00.000-07:00

"It is not what a lawyer tells me I may do, but what humanity, reason and justice tell me I ought to do." - Edmund Burke, statesman, philosopher

My friend John Fullerton a 20 year Investment Banker from JP Morgan just wrote a must-read piece on the recent Goldman Sachs issues of conflict of interest, and the resultant SEC Lawsuit.

John's last sentence sentence sums up my views on the need to rewrite the source code of financial system.

"There is much hard work ahead in creating a resilient and trusted financial system that serves the needs of the real economy rather than the self-interest of a few. More importantly, finance must evolve so it can fuel the transition of the real economy to respond to the injustice of gross and increasing wealth inequality, and, for the first time, to intelligently acknowledge the finite boundaries of the ecosystem that are in conflict with the finance driven global economy’s never ending growth of material throughput."

Many of America's Foods are killing it's people.

2010-04-25T20:34:00.000-07:00

We need a new economic system that incorporates caring for each other and nature.

2010-04-25T14:45:00.000-07:00

"Economic systems are human creations. Every economic institution and program, from banks and corporations to unemployment insurance and Social Security, is a human invention. The economic rules we we take for granted are human inventions. We must decide which economic rules we want to keep and which we want to leave behind, and invent new economic rules that meet our authentic human needs. If we join together to demand these new rules, we can each play a part in moving toward a more caring economics and a more caring world."

From "Real Wealth Of Nations" by Riane Eisler.

SUSTAINABLE AND RESPONSIBLE INVESTING: How Your Money Can Help You and the World

2010-04-02T19:06:00.001-07:00

This is an article I just wrote for Whole Person Calendar.

"Sustainable And Responsible Investing: How Your Money Can Help You and The World"
You can view the article PDF here.

In the past few years, our financial system has been rocked to its core. Belief in profit-driven motives as the sole metrics of perfor-mance has been fundamentally shaken. Our perception of risk have been forever altered, and our economy is shifting toward a new foundation. Traditionally, investments are made with one, and only one, measure in mind -- how much money does the invest-ment return? Every investment is consid-ered for its financial return potential, yet fi-nancial return should not be the only metric for success. In today’s world, investing pro-cesses must take into consideration the im-pact on the environment, the individuals employed, the communities involved, the climate, biodiversity issues, and a host of other factors.

One of my clients, Terrie, is an anti-tobacco educator for colleges across California. She’s devoted to her job and has a talent for helping young people recognize the perils of smoking. That’s why she was appalled when she learned that every one of her mutual funds held large investments in tobacco stocks. For Terrie, the revelation that her investment portfolio conflicted with her personal values is what sent her to my office and marked the beginning of her interest and inquiry in socially and environmentally responsible investing. Another client of mine, Mary, is pleased that now her “mon-ey is where her mouth is.” Mary, a successful television actress, is very active in supporting environmental groups and progressive causes. For years, her advisor was a family stockbroker at a major brokerage firm. On a number of occasions, she raised her concerns about companies in her portfolio that depleted natural resources and befouled the earth. Mary encouraged her advisor to find investments and mutual funds that were socially and environmentally responsible. Throughout the relationship, the broker derided her concerns; he dismissed such requests and advised her that sustainable and respon-sible investment strategies were inferior. Eventually Mary got fed up. She came to me seeking someone who would not only listen to her concerns, but also help her to earn competitive returns on her portfolio. Mary says she is pleased that her wealth is not only growing, but it is also helping to fuel positive change in the in corporate America and having an impact through community development investments she has made. Her investments, she says, are now safeguarding her family’s welfare – and the planet’s.

Mary and Terrie aren’t alone. The trend toward sustainable investing, also known as socially responsible investing (SRI), began in the 1960s, as people began to shun companies like Dow Chemical that profited from the manufacture of napalm for the Vietnam War. The movement to sell off “sin stocks” gained momentum in the 1980s. A growing number of investors found it unconsciona-ble to hold stocks in companies that did business in apartheid South Africa. Success with helping to end apartheid inspired socially responsible investors to turn their attention to other issues, such as protecting the environment and promoting fair labor practices. One faith-based institutional investor on the East coast, alone, leverages its $90 billion in assets to make better corporate citizens out of companies as large and powerful as Exxon Mobil, Chevron and General Electric.

Today, one out of every eight dollars under professional management in the U.S. is part of a values-based portfolio. In 2007, the Social Investment Forum reported that socially responsible invest-ments in the U.S. totaled more than $2.71 trillion in total assets under management using one or more of the three core socially responsible investing strategies—screening, shareholder advocacy, and community investing. About one out of every ten dollars under professional management in the United States today is involved in socially responsible investing—11 percent of the $25.1 trillion in total assets under management.

How Can I Become A Socially Responsible Investor

Read more »

Mama's Hot Tamales - one of my favorite restaurants in LA and anchor for change

2010-03-30T17:43:00.000-07:00

Wanna make a 79% return? Check out Grassland Ecosystem Restoration...

2010-03-25T00:49:00.001-07:00

I first heard of the term "ecosystem services" in the groundbreaking book "Natural Capitalism - Creating the Next Industrial Revolution" by Hunter Lovins, Paul Hawken and Amory Lovins. Essentially the concept is that ecosystems provide tangible value to the global economy far greater in scope and economic value than the economy itself.

I just came across an article on Science Daily which references a study which actually tallies the potential rate of return on investing in restoring particular ecosystems.

This is truly next level for me, as the concept of actually MAKING MONEY while RESTORING ECOSYSTEMS is very, very sexy indeed.

The article states:

"Experts concluding the global DIVERSITAS biodiversity conference in Cape Town described preliminary research revealing jaw-dropping dollar values of the "ecosystem services" of biomes like forests and coral reefs -- including food, pollution treatment and climate regulation. Undertaken to help societies make better-informed choices, the economic research shows a single hectare of coral reef, for example, provides annual services to humans valued at US $130,000 on average, rising to as much as $1.2 million."

The article cites estimated return estimates from such investments in various ecosystems:

"•Coral reefs: 7%, (with a cost-benefit ratio of 2.8);
•Rivers: 27%, (cost-benefit ratio 15.5);
•Tropical forests: 50% (cost-benefit ratio 37.3);
•Mangroves: 40%, (cost-benefit ratio 26.4);
•Grasslands: 79%, (cost-benefit ratio 75.1)."

If we could spur an investment gold rush into such endeavors to restore and actually expand such ecosystems we'd see a revolution in the church of money.

Imagine - greedy Wall Street Executives clamoring over eachother to restore more and more ecosystems. Now that is the closest thing as a good use for greed if I ever saw one.

More green jobs per million...

2010-03-24T18:46:00.001-07:00

I got this chart from my friend Andy Lipkis' blog, created by University of Massachusets at Amherst. It simply speaks for itself. Green Industry creates more jobs per million dollars invested...

This is how economics should work - regenerative ecological systems for economic gain!

2010-03-11T16:43:00.000-08:00

An ecological network for economic gain. A fish farm and bird sanctuary!

Our bread basket is threatened by a systemic liquidation of natural resources. We can create world where every community can feed it self.

Farms that restore ecosystems rather than destroy.

Farmers experts in relationships.

Create a business for serving others - Social Entrepreneurship

2010-03-08T11:57:00.001-08:00

A Vegan in a Hummer?

2010-02-17T21:29:00.001-08:00

Many enviros simply want change, as long as they don't have to change their lifestyle very much.

I know this from experience, my own! Admittedly - this green guy still could do more.

Yet the smartest people I know are aware that our happiness is built on lifelong journey of learning. Ray Anderson's book "Midcourse Correction" is a testament to that sage wisdom applied in business.

There's a movement afoot in the MIT Circles -

Smart managers are wary of epiphanies. “Suddenly, everything looked different” should be the last line of a short story, not a report from the management front. But sometimes, something makes you look at a matter you’ve paid a lot of attention to in a different way. Even if you look at everything differently for only a moment and then you return to your original perspective, that perspective has been changed.That may have happened to some people at last week’s Pop!Tech conference, in Camden, Maine. One of the speakers was Michael Pollan, author of The Botany of Desire, who delivered a variation of his standard talk on sustainable food. In that talk, he dropped this nugget:

“A vegan in a Hummer has a lighter carbon footprint than a beef eater in a Prius.”

Read the entire article here.

“A vegan in a Hummer has a lighter carbon footprint than a beef eater in a Prius.”

Excellent Video about Complimentary Currency in Germany

2010-01-31T11:48:00.001-08:00

Article I wrote for Triplepundit.com - Economics Built on Beauty and Community

2010-01-08T23:34:00.000-08:00

I wrote an article last fall for Triple Pundit:

Right before I boarded a plane recently, I noticed a Body Shop in the terminal next to the gate. The Body Shop has been a leading business that incorporates social and environmental values into its operations. It was founded by the late Anita Roddick, one of the emergent leaders in the expanding and evolving “green” business movement.

Roddick was a very influential and inspiring thought leader, she stood as a pillar of the socially and environmentally responsible business movement. As I thumbed through my reading materials I found an article in Resurgence Magazine by Roddick entitled “The Currency of Imagination.” This eloquent article laid out some of her guiding principles and reflections on being one of the only CEOs (if not the only CEO) in the crowd of human beings who raised their voices against the globalization paradigm represented by the 1999 WTO meeting in Seattle.

In the article she laid out a new vision for society, a vision which I share, where we place community and beauty as driving values for our individual and institutional decision making. I have learned that for any successful endeavor in new economic thinking to work, it must be built on a culture of trust and collaboration amongst the participants. Such ideas have inspired me in the efforts I have made in my region in co-founding Green Business Networking, a monthly networking event which brings together entrepreneurs and professionals who are committed to greening our economy through their businesses.

Somewhere along the line we picked up a virus in our culture’s source code. This virus misguided us by placing money and power as the central measuring sticks for success, all fed by a rapacious economic operating system driven by the gospel of consumerism. Our economy has become devoid of beauty and community, transactions have become ”complex, opaque, anonymous based on short term outcomes” according to Don Shaffer, President of RSF Social Finance, and our transactions need to become “direct, transparent and personal based on long term relationships.” On a similar theme, Judy Wicks, founder of the White Dog Café, who is also a co-founder of the very successful movement “Business Alliance For Local Living Economies” lives these principals. She says that her business was built on the principal of “maximizing relationships” rather than “maximizing profits.” As a result of her focus, her business thrived with the satisfaction of higher sales, and happier people.

In the wake of the recent financial crisis, and the significant ills facing our world, it has become clear to many people that the prevailing economic paradigm is no longer working to improve the well being of humanity. With climate crisis, declining ecosystems, billions, food riots, childhood diabetes, etc. individuals and institutions are experiencing the severe ramifications of an avaricious and predatory economic model. However, there is another way.

I spend a fair amount of energy inquiring into the nature of the latent economic opportunity of which Roddick spoke–that which incorporates beauty and community into the economic equation. I am also keen on discerning the most effective and coherent actions necessary to transmute our current economy of waste into an economy of thriving abundance, conservation and renewal for 100 percent of humanity. Our economic paradigm utilizes debt manipulation and consumerism as a short-sighted means to an unforeseen dead end and endless gluttony for few at the top of the heap.

Roddick said:

Consumerism doesn’t care if we buy in beautiful or ugly surroundings. Few aspects of the global economy provide beauty or community and, worse, in many ways it drives them out by deliberate manipulation of debt, which is as as powerful motivator as invented in human history. On the other hand, providing for these vital needs requires another kind of economy altogether, which emphasizes beauty, community and creativity.

Sadly, and with far reaching consequences, our current economy has failed to value such manifestations of “beauty, community and creativity. She pointed out that the economist John Maynard Keynes “talked about the hideous waste of economic system that could not recognize art or beauty…. In a speech to the Irish government in 1933, he urged politicians and economists to raise their ambition, and spend the money on beauty.”

Yet, the economy of beauty that we need transcends and includes the artful beauty of which he speaks. It is a culture of thriving community of people inspired by, evolving and learning from others and from and beauty that surrounds them.

How do we recognize and create such a vibrant community as the foundation of a successful economic paradigm?

Such a community has “deep connectivity” between participants. In a private paper, leading thinker Jon Ramer wrote that some of the citizens in a society of deep connectivity are “committed to produce something in their lives and the lives of others.” And, that such a society “is for building relationships, producing meaningful results, learning and growing together via a principled-approach to personal and community development.”

An economic system that encourages such “deep connectivity” is based on what I would call the currency of relationships. A perfect example of is the deeply successful Mondragon Cooperative movement, a community based economic system successfully operating the Basque region of Spain. It started during the Great Depression in the 1930s and thrived amid the oppressive Franco dictatorship. Mondragon succeeded in such a fascist context “by avoiding confrontation, not by being passively servile but by doing what was for the good of all.”

Author Thomas Greco made an important point that the success of Mondragon experience is replicable, but only in conjunction with the simultaneous weaving of a strong social fabric. That effort need not necessarily be centered around ethnic identity and culture, but could based on other common factors between the participants – such as religious affiliation, geographical proximity, shared values, or other factors that create common interests (but with concern for the greater common good always foremost.)

It is precisely this inherent characteristic of wishing to be part of something greater than ourselves that has given humans a sense of meaning since time immemorial. This heroic sense of contribution and sharing for the common good is a key principal of success.

Consider: has there ever been a time in history when this kind of collective heroism is more important than now, when the stakes are as high as they can get?

Mondragon scholar, Terry Mollner makes a distinction between the declining ‘material age’ and the emerging ‘relationship age,’ and concludes that the [Mondragon founders] ‘set about building a Relationship Age society by extending into more sophisticated realms the Relationship Age values which were already present In Basque Society.’

Along the same lines, Roddick concludes “We will succeed to the extent to which we encourage human connection and conversation. We will succeed also to the extent to which we spend the small change of imagination – the human stories about people and places and what they aspire to do.

Although it has been said before – we are at a critical juncture where our global circumstances require each of us to embrace that responsibility in every relationship we have. We share the responsibility to manifest the “Relationship Age” right where we are. A Relationship Age where artful living in deep connectivity is the evolutionary catalyst to shift our current economic operating system into a creation of shared wellbeing for our lives here on spaceship Earth.

An article on Local Currency quoting me from Whole Life Times Magazine

2009-12-13T23:52:00.000-08:00

Following is an article which quotes me about my efforts to create a local currency for the Greater LA area.

Originally published in Whole Life Times:

One way of keeping money in the community is to create an alternative system of currency

In 1932, while the world struggled through the Great Depression, a small Austrian town tried an economic experiment. To stimulate the local economy, leadership in Wörgl created its own local currency, or scrip, known in German as freigeld (literally, free money).

Based on the thinking of Silvio Gesell, an early 20th-century social activist and economist, the new currency was novel in that it depreciated monthly, which increased the pace of its circulation. Rapid currency circulation goosed the economy, putting residents back to work. Advocates of local alternative currency systems explain that what’s really happening with this sort of currency “velocity” is real reinvestment in the local community.

The “Miracle of Wörgl” seemed to be serving that community well and was interchangeable with official state currency, but the Austrian National Bank, concerned over a perceived threat to its money-printing monopoly, shut down the experiment after just 13 months.

Nearly 80 years later, as economic malaise lingers throughout the United States, the Wörgl saga is inspiring local currency supporters seeking to unlock underutilized resources that might mitigate financial tsunami cycles and create a more independent economic model.

Complementary Currencies

The first question might be, is that legal? It is. Creating and using a local currency—sometimes called complementary currency, in that it “complements,” but doesn’t replace, a national currency—will not unleash the dogs of the U.S. Treasury, as long as it isn’t coin and doesn’t look like U.S. currency. Well before the Wörgl experiment, local currencies were common, and there are hundreds of more recent examples, from Canada’s Vancouver Island to San Luis Obispo, Calif., and Totnes, U.K. In a less formal way, barters take place all the time, albeit not transferable via a common coin of the realm.

In 1991 a group in Ithaca, New York, created a currency, the Ithaca Hour, to promote local economic independence and community reliance. Its name was intended to convey the idea that currency is both a means of exchange and a representation of someone’s time spent laboring. At that time, $10 was the average hourly wage in the county, so an Hour was worth $10 U.S. With more than 100,000 bills circulating, Ithaca Hours continue offering an alternative medium of exchange used by 900 businesses and health care providers.

In the Massachusetts Berkshires, another local currency project took off in 2006 with the support of the E. F. Schumacher Society, a kind of alternative economic think tank. Named for a British economist who advocated decentralization, the society studies how local currencies work. More than 2.5 million BerkShares have been issued, with about 150,000 now circulating. Accepted at 385 area businesses, BerkShares are colorfully illustrated with historic Berkshire figures and other artwork by regional artists, further emphasizing localness. Offered through 13 branches of five local banks, 100 BerkShares are equivalent to $100 U.S., but can be purchased with $95 U.S. Thus, users receive a 5 percent discount at local businesses that accept the currency.

The alternative Massachusetts currency has received more attention from communities nationwide since the current economic downturn, according to Sarah Hearn of BerkShares. “Increasingly, communities are looking to find citizen-based solutions to economic instability, and rightly identify local currencies, like BerkShares, as elegant tools for growing more sustainable local economies,” notes Hearn.

Commitment to keeping dollars local may be enough of a driver to create a community currency. Even small shifts in market share to local businesses can create economic activity and employment gains, studies have shown. One analysis found buying from local merchants rather than chain businesses results in three times as much money staying in the community.

In nearby Ojai a working group has been established to brainstorm ways to increase area economic opportunities, and potentially create a local currency. Further north, the college town of Davis also is studying developing an alternative currency, Davis Dollars, and Eureka trades Humboldt Community Currency (CC). The Humboldt Community Currency Exchange Project suggests that participating goods and services providers accept payment half in CC and half in U.S. currency. One Humboldt CC equals one U.S. dollar.

Sustaining Planet and Economy

Here in Los Angeles, the Green Business Networking group, formed in 2005 when a small group of local business leaders began meeting informally to discuss ways of working together to advance sustainability and wellness ideas and businesses, is exploring the feasibility of a complementary currency for the greater L.A. region.

“I’m motivated to work with money and business exchange to drive sustainability,” explains cofounder and certified financial planner Gregory Wendt, who is also director of sustainable investing for Enright Premier Wealth Advisors, Inc., an established registered investment advisory firm based in Southern California. “We need to change the way we work with money.”

Still in very early discussion stages with interested regional businesses and individuals for a process that might take two to three years, Wendt envisions a regional currency that would find its initial footing in the green business community. While it’s too early to know how the currency would be backed or how actual mechanics might function, Wendt anticipates the currency taking shape through evolving discussions and a series of community gatherings that identify and address issues.

Hollis Doherty, a student of the Wörgl experiment, shares Wendt’s enthusiasm for establishing a local currency. After stumbling across the Austrian story, Doherty was “galvanized about the idea of creating a local currency,” so much so that the L.A. resident traveled to Austria and the Unterguggenberger Institute. Named for the Wörgl mayor who implemented the 1932 currency plan for his town, the think tank promotes the idea of alternative mechanisms for exchange.

Now an associate with the Unterguggen-berger Institute, Doherty finds the idea of new thought for how money is viewed to be a transformative topic, with the potential for huge social impact.

“My focus is on a currency that includes more people in the economy, one that is more abundant for more people, and favors exchange over hoarding by the few,” Doherty says. “The Institute would say there is no perfect system, but they do say it’s healthier if more than one medium of exchange is available.”

Hopefully an alternative currency would help to buffer Los Angeles in the event of a future economic downturn, regardless of what happens in Sacramento or Washington, D.C.

“It will be a very regional effort that promotes a thriving economy for the L.A. region, driven by locally owned businesses and local farms committed to sustainable business practices,” says Wendt. “What’s most important is that this be a catalyst for change.”

- By L.A. writer Maria Fotopoulos for the Whole Life Times Magazine

Orland Bishop - Oneness Is Abundance

2009-11-02T18:07:00.000-08:00

One very inspiring LA Activist who I met in the Economics of Peace Conference in Sonoma is Orland Bishop.

There is a video of him sharing some of his views on The Global Oneness Project which states "L.A.-based community activist Orland Bishop explains how the American economic system that assigns value to competition and scarcity of resources undermines oneness, which is inherently relational and abundant. Although the capitalist system as a whole resists investing in human development, people can create new systems that reinforce each individual's value instead of encouraging struggle and competition by making alternative agreements based on collective inspiration."

A recap of Social Capital Markets Conference 2009

2009-09-22T22:38:00.001-07:00

I attended the Social Capital Markets Conference a few weeks ago and wrote an article which originally appeared on Mother News Network

Here's the the text of the blog = go to the original on MNN to get the links and the video.

I attended the second Social Capital Markets conference last week in San Francisco, a sold-out conference of the leading minds in evolving our use and investing of capital to heal, and evolve the manner in which we live on the planet. To quote the SOCAP organizers:

Our financial system has been rocked to its core. Belief in profit-driven motives as the sole metrics of performance has been fundamentally shaken. Our perceptions of risk have been forever altered. And our economy is shifting toward a new foundation.

What is that “new foundation” of which they speak?

Traditionally, investments are made with one, and only one, measure in mind -- how much money does the investment return? With the advent of what is now called “social capital” other factors have been introduced into the equation.

Woody Tasch, leading thinker in this movement, states in his recent book Inquiries Into the Nature of Slow Money had this to say:

Socially responsible investing, mission-related and program-related investing by foundations, venture philanthropy, social entrepreneurship, local economies, consumer demand for organics and green products – these are the first stages of a more profound fiduciary realignment. Some of these initiatives remain incremental and ambiguity laden. Others are indicators of more fundamental, tectonic shifts along the boundaries of for-profit and nonprofit, shareholder and stakeholder, global investor and local citizen.

Woody states it clearly. Yet the issue remains -- how do you MEASURE the progress in all of the non-financial dimensions? From the “sole metrics of performance” to something more inclusive of the factors essential to well-being?

For example, one of the key methods that we gauge the success of our economic activity is through the measures GNP and GDP. But to meet the Earth’s challenges, these outmoded ways of measuring the “product” of our economy have to be reexamined. They are out of touch with our finite supply of natural resources (or natural capital) upon which our economic growth depends.

One of the key challenges of such indices is they can not be considered sustainable because they do not account for depletion of either human or natural capital. Consider statement of the late Robert Kennedy on what GNP does not measure:

The Gross National Product includes air pollution and advertising for cigarettes, and ambulances to clear out highways of carnage. It counts special locks for our doors, and jails for people who break them. GNP includes the destruction of the redwoods and the death of Lake Superior. It grows with the production of napalm and nuclear warheads ... and if GNP includes all this, there is much that it does not comprehend.

One of the key aims in the “social” capital space is to define new measures, new metrics to determine the “non-financial” impact of any economic activity or any investment. Here's a video of SOCAP founder Kevin Jones explaining more about social capital markets:

I learned of one such effort at the SOCAP Conference which is a collaboration between Acumen Fund, B Lab and Rockefeller Foundation which created measurement tools that for the first time provided performance indicators for measuring an investment’s social and environmental impact, called IRIS (Impact Reporting and Investment Standards).

In the last few years, a proliferation of investment dollars has been allocated to funds and enterprises seeking to generate social and/or environmental impact as well as a financial return. The sector has grown to over $50B in total assets and the pace of new investment grew by an average of over 35 percent over the past five years until the middle of 2008.

Close to 150 organizations are providing approximately $4 billion in capital and services to small and growing businesses in developing countries. And areas like clean tech and socially responsible investing have seen double-digit growth year-over year, despite challenging economic conditions. Within the next 10 years, impact investing has the potential to grow to about 1 percent of total managed assets, which would result in about $500 billion of capital channeled toward social and environmental impact.

In addition to creating standardized ways of measuring impact, the collaboration has also generated software tools and data gathering collaborations amongst a wide range of impact driven investment groups.

This effort has created a framework for measuring social and environmental performance based on a set of common indicators and definitions which can be applied in many contexts, beyond investing and money.

It is efforts like these which are the building blocks that are fundamental in recalibrating the thinking of the actors in our economy. In order to develop a new economic paradigm, we have to know where we are, and where we are going, and to be able to communicate and measure this. By incorporating new thinking into civilization’s economic activity, true costs, benefits it will become much more obvious what needs to be done to steer our system toward well being and sustainability for all of our Earth’s inhabitants.

Failure of the green movement - and an opportunity...

2009-08-27T22:33:00.000-07:00

Last night I had drinks with a very successful NY Investment Banker who is a vegan, a philosopher, and has a rather liberal point of view. Ironically, he is an analyst and expert in the field of the fossil fuel industry. We discussed much about our common concerns, interests, etc. And our interest in meeting with and learning from every viewpoint, and world view. He shared with me that some of his clients actually believe that the world is less than 5,000 years old, even though such clients deal in a commodities (oil and gas) which they understand must take more than 5,000 years to create.

We agreed that it would be easy to write such people off, yet there are many many mindsets on the planet which are very, very different worldviews.

Surprisingly - it appears that the environmental movement has not entirely gotten that over the last few decades.

After thinking about this for the last day, I told a friend over dinner tonight that I believe that the environmental movement has failed to effectively "pierce the veil" of the worldview of mainstream culture. Earlier he and I met with a long time, very successful activist who's organizations materials explained that the group had reached over 2 million people over the years. Granted - that is a very successful effort. Yet considering we have 6 Billion people on the planet, his group has just scratched the surface.

Jurian Kaamp, editor in Chief of Ode Magazine wrote an article this spring which points to a key issue - we're not speaking the language of the masses.

He wrote about that we need to communicate with all different types of value systems and cultures around the globe in very different ways. He also shares that Ken Wilber's integral world view is an excellent roadmap for success:

He writes:

Take global warming, which Wilber describes as “the first issue that affects everybody everywhere on the planet. [Former U.S. Vice-President] Al Gore is saying that the entire world needs to change its behavior. But he says so in a language that is perhaps understood by 20 percent of the world population. Gore assumes that people will respond from rational self-interest based on sound science, but that’s the least of the motivations of the majority of the population of the planet.”

Other cultures, Wilber argues, may respond to the threat of global warming from different values. African cultures are dominated by feudal clans, he says, so they may adopt environmental and energy policies when these are phrased in a language that relates to how they may benefit their clans. Similarly, Hindus may change their behavior to honor Gaia rather than in response to rational self-interest. “Al Gore has to ‘language’ his message in at least four different value structures to get, say, 80 percent of the world behind him,” Wilber says. “Anything less than that will simply not work.”

According to Wilber, politics, too, could benefit from an integral approach. Take the classic conflict between conservatives and liberals over welfare. Liberals argue that people are poor because of lack of government support; conservatives argue that people are poor because of lack of family values and work ethic. In Wilber’s vision, both are right. It isn’t “either/or” but “both/and.” His ideal government approach: “‘We will do everything to help you but at the same time we want you to do everything to help yourselves.’ We need to find the way to reach out to touch all dimensions, interior capacity and external capacity. We need to recognize where you can help yourselves and where you need help.”

It's another version of the age-old adage - put yourself in another's shoes. Yet in order to be effective in sharing the urgency of the world situation, we must enter the mindset of others in order to reach them.

As mystics and shamans have said for generations - order to wake someone out of their dream, you have to enter into it first, join them and gently guide them to wake up to a new reality.

The sound of the new - living economy...

2009-08-11T17:57:00.001-07:00

Local Economy, Local Currency and the Local Multiplier Effect

2009-08-08T08:51:00.000-07:00

Yes Magazine just published some articles on Local Currency and the benefits they have for local and regional economies...the article states:

Local currencies can help a community counter some of the problems with conventional money. For example, bank-issued currency tends to flow toward the money centers for investment. If you shop at a chain store, the profit gets whisked out of town and into the corporate coffers and then, often, to the speculative market. A local currency stays in the community, encouraging local business and trade, adding value to local products and services, and supporting the local infrastructure.

Reliance on national currency means being at the mercy of the national credit situation. As we’ve recently seen, credit constriction can paralyze local economies. Despite the availability of goods and the need for business, when there’s no money, consumers don’t buy. Stores don’t sell. Start-ups can’t get a toe-hold. An alternative currency gives people another way to buy, sell, lend, and borrow. If the community creates its own currency, local business can go on even if the supply of national currency dries up.

At the most basic level, currency functions as a means of exchange (I give you a dollar and you give me an ice cream cone), a unit of value (a dollar, pound, etc.) and a store of value (you can hold onto a dollar as it maintains its worth). It’s also a source of information about relative value, and about what is needed to keep trade flowing, for instance, by adjusting the supply of money or the exchange rate so that those in other markets can afford your goods.

With local currency, a community can meet currency needs that the national tender isn’t fulfilling. If the idea seems fanciful, there are models up and running—some for many years.

Amma, Indian Saint Endorses Earth Charter's Principals

2009-07-29T14:34:00.000-07:00

Well known and regognized Spiritual Leader Amma (AKA Mata Amritanandamayi) formally endorsed the Earth Charter Principles as part of her mission.

From the MA Center Website:

The Earth Charter—a declaration of fundamental principles for building a just, sustainable and peaceful world—has been translated into 40 languages and signed by more than 5,000 organizations. The charter started as an initiative of the United Nations in 1987 and was finalized in 2000 as a civil-society project. On July 7, 2009 in New York, Amma also added her signature to its list of endorsees.

Steven Rockefeller, who coordinated the drafting of the charter by consulting representatives of the world’s major religions, was on hand to welcome Amma to New York and to request her to endorse the Earth Charter’s principles. The Earth Charter’s ethical vision proposes that environmental protection, human rights, equitable human development, and peace are interdependent and indivisible. Steven Rockefeller is the son of former United States Vice President Nelson Aldrich Rockefeller and fourth-generation member of the renowned Rockefeller family.

“What a great blessing it is to be here tonight in the presence of Amma,” Rockefeller said. “I would like to extend deep thanks to Amma… for her very gracious offer to endorse the Earth Charter. In addition I would like to express heartfelt thanks to Amma for being a spiritual and social leader who, through love for all people, her teachings, her many humanitarian good works and her educational initiatives and her work on behalf of the environment is helping us make that transition to the better world that is envisioned in the Earth Charter.”

Rockefeller continued, “When I think of Amma and her life of devotion and service, I see a shining example for all of us of the spirit of reverence, compassion and care. … Amma, all of us associated with the Earth Charter Initiative want to share with you our deep gratitude for the light and joy you have brought into the world.”

Also on hand to welcome Amma to New York were M.S. Singh Puri, Ambassador & Deputy Permanent Representative to the United Nations since March 2009; and Upendra Chivakula, a member of the New Jersey General Assembly and State Office.

2012 Investment program....

2009-07-24T18:10:00.000-07:00

Question from a client today: "So, what are the Mayans Investing in?"

A: Hmmmm....

Mountaintop Coal Removal - Bad Math!

2009-07-02T18:32:00.001-07:00

Simply put, it is has been widely recognized by thinking people around the nation that Mountain Top Removal mining for dirty coal is bad.

Scott Badenoch, CEO and Co-Founder of Creative Citizen recently wrote in his article for MNN

"Mr. President, it is your duty as a citizen of this planet to put an immediate and irrevocable moratorium on Mountaintop Removal today. Go to Appalachia and see for yourself. There is no time to waste; there is no compromise. Human lives and nature’s mountains are at stake."

It's mysterious that our own Obama administration continues to look the other way.

Hmmmm... well perhaps it is creating JOBS and making MONEY for the coal industry.

Hmmm... money, jobs. Hot commodities in this greed plagued economy.

Well how much money?

A recent article by Rob Perks published on NRDC's blog cites a study that the money math just doesn't pencil out.

The article states:

Consider that coal mining costs Appalachians five times more in early deaths as the industry provides to the region in jobs, taxes and other economic benefits. This is according to a new study which finds that coal is more a curse than blessing for the region.

"Coal-mining economies are not strong economies," said West Virginia University researcher Michael Hendryx, who co-authored the study. He added that coalfield communities "are weaker than the rest of the state, weaker than the rest of the region, and weaker than the rest of the nation."

According to the study, the coal industry generates a little more than $8 billion a year in economic benefits for the Appalachian region. However, the conservative estimate of coal's costs -- in terms of the value of premature deaths attributable to the mining industry across the Appalachian coalfields -- comes to $42 billion.

"Natural resources such as forests and streams have substantial economic value when they are left intact, and mining is highly destructive of these resources," the study says. "For example, Appalachian coal mining permanently buried 724 stream miles between 1985 and 2001 through mountaintop removal mining and subsequent valley fills, and will ultimately impact more than 1.4 million acres.

"Coal generates inexpensive electricity, but not as inexpensive as the price signals indicate because those prices do not include the costs to human health and productivity, and the costs of natural resource destruction."

"In response to this and other research showing the disadvantages of poor economic diversification, it seems prudent to examine how more diverse employment opportunities for the region could be developed as a means to reduce socio-economic and environmental disparities and thereby improve public health.

"Potential alternative employment opportunities include development of renewable energy from wind, solar, biofuels, geothermal, or hydropower sources; sustainable timber; small-scale agriculture; outdoor or culturally oriented tourism; technology; and ecosystem restoration," the study says.

"The need to develop alternative economies becomes even more important when we realize that coal reserves throughout most of Appalachia are projected to peak and then enter permanent decline in about 20 years."

This is just a case for bad math, bad economics. Why does this continue? Who's watching the henhouse here?

These are questions that many are pleading the Obama administration to address.

Let's all hold the space that Mr. Obama will actually lift the rug, see the dirt and get out his calculator.

Then he has only one choice - end MTR.

And to drive the point home - here is a testimony from RFK Jr. at the end of 2008 which states the issues as clearly as I have heard.

The End of Money and the Future of Civilization by Thomas Greco, Jr. - Chelsea Green

2009-06-14T20:33:00.000-07:00

Thomas Greco is author of many books on money, debt, currency, etc. His latest book The End of Money and the Future of Civilization by Thomas Greco, Jr. - Chelsea Greenclarifies the money mystery, origins of money and provides some clear pathways for improvements to our economic system.

"Throughout the world today, local communities are struggling to maintain their economic vitality and quality of life. The reasons for this are both economic and political, and are largely the result of external forces that are driven by outside agencies like central governments, central banks, and large transnational corporations. In brief, decisions made by others outside of the community are having enormous impacts on life within the community. Be that as it may, it is possible for communities to regain a large measure of control over their own welfare and to ameliorate the effects of those external forces by employing peaceful approaches that encourage human solidarity and are based on private, voluntary initiative and creativity."

The key solution he proposes is a concept known as "alternative currencies" or "complimentary currencies" which actually have a long history and widespread use currently.

Platforms for Collaboration - Article in Stanford Social Innovation Review

2009-06-13T16:06:00.001-07:00

I have been doing alot of thinking about the power of co-creating, collaborations, community economics, mimicking "the web of life" in organizational development, etc. as key factors in helping get our civilization out of the mess we have created for ourselves.

I read in the What is Enlightenment? Mag that collaborative behavior is the hallmark of evolution in our society.

David Korten wrote "Using magnetic resonance imaging to take portraits of brain activity, scientists have found that during laboratory excercises that the experience of forming a cooperative alliance with another person produces a storng positive response in the pleasure center of the brain - rather like eating chocolate or engaging in good sex."

A New York Times Article describes the experiments in greater detail.

Stanford Social Innovation Review just published an article by Satish Nambisan, associate professor at Renssaelaer Polytechnic Institute. "Platforms for Collaboration"

His recent book "The Global Brain: Your Roadmap for Innovating Faster and Smarter in a Networked World." outlines the keys for corporations to work with stakeholders inside and outside the enterprise to bring new ideas and products to market.

It begins with

"Some of the brightest ideas for social change grow in the spaces between organizations and sectors. Yet few organizations have systems that make collaboration happen. To foster innovation, organizations need to develop places where they can come together and work creatively—that is, platforms for collaboration. In this article, a management expert identifies three kinds of collaboration platforms—exploration, experimentation, and execution—and then outlines what organizations can do to put these platforms to work for them."

In the article, expert Satish Nambisan discusses the importance of understanding the different platforms of collaboration - Exploration, Experimentation and Execution.

Exploration - Define Core Problems, connect with problem solvers
Experimentation - Develop Solution Prototypes, test prototypes in near-real-world contexts
Execution - Build and disseminate solution templates, Help Adopters adapt to system-wide changes

Additionally he articulates the basic ingredients for collaboration platforms:

KEY INGREDIENTS:

A NETWORK-CENTRIC PERSPECTIVE

Organizations must be able to:
- play supporting roles, rather than controlling the innovation processes
- adapt to the potentially conflicting goals of other partners
- embrace nontraditional partners
- leverage network resources and facilitate two-way flow of ideas and solutions

MODULAR OR PLUG AND PLAY EXPERTISE
- deploy specialized expertise in diverse contexts both quickly and cost-effectively
- integrate expertise with that of partners

A PORTFOLIO OF SUCCESS METRICS
- agree on measures that reflect all stakeholders' concerns
- define project goals in ways that subsume organization-specific goals

What difference does it make where you buy your cup of coffee?

2009-05-23T18:15:00.000-07:00

This video from the "Mile High Business Alliance" reveals the power of local economy!

Bootstrapping a business for growth.

2009-05-16T01:39:00.000-07:00

As a financial advisor, I frequently get calls from entrepreneurs seeking capital for their emerging or expanding companies. Although venture capital is of great interest to me, it is outside the scope of the work I do for my clients.

Even so, I find the whole process of creating companies, and financing their growth to be a very interesting and important process to understand.

I came across a whitepaperfrom a firm called Kennet Partners titled "Bootstrapping Your Business for Success - Knowing When and How to Approach VC Firms."

The brief whitepaper addresses the questions I often get asked. And is a good read for most entrepreneurs seeking capital, and common sense on growing their companies.

Food, Inc. the latest from Participant Productions

2009-05-14T12:54:00.000-07:00

Just last night I attended a private screening of "Food, Inc." from Participant productions. The movie did a very good job of presenting the challenges, and opportunities for change in the way we create food - through the industrial food system. Some of the film told the story of meat production as shown in the entertaining classic short film "The Meatrix" by Free Range Studios.

It surprises me how ignorant many environmentalists and "conscious people" are of the health and environmental impacts of the food choices we make.

From the movie trailer: "...you have a small group of multinational corporations who control the entire food system from seed to the supermarket. This isn't just about what we're eating, this is about what we're allowed to say,it's not just our health that is at risk... They don't want farmer's talking - they don't want this story told..."

What to do?

Buy organic.
Know where your food has come from, and how it was prepared.
Shop at a farmer's market or local food co-op.
If you must eat meats - eat less, eat organic.
Educate yourself on the industrial food system, talk about it.
Change the way you eat.
Eat consciously.
If you must eat fish - eat Marine Stewardship Council approved seafoods.
Vegetables and fruits? Avoid the foods with the most amount of chemicals - find out on www.foodnews.org
"Don't eat anything you see advertised." - Michael Pollan said in the interview below.

You'll be healthier, and the planet will too!

Michael Pollan, author of "Omnivore's Dilemma" and featured in Food, Inc., was interviewed on Democracy Now.

Van Jones talks to Progessive Christians...

2009-05-11T14:06:00.000-07:00

A couple of months ago I attended the benefit dinner for "Progessive Christians Uniting" where Van Jones, Obama's special advisor on green jobs, enterprise and innovation gave the keynote.

I especially liked the parts of the conversation where he asked all Christians to consider the role of their faith in creating the "problem." His comments encouraged deep reflection of our interpretation of the tenets of the Christian faith, in light of the current environmental crisis, and how such reflection can change the way we relate to Nature.

Part 2

Green genius blogger Karl Burkhart of Greendig shot these videos and posted them on MNN.

Banking regulators stress Test Overview

2009-05-08T11:25:00.001-07:00

Federal regulators conducted a study to determine the health and viability of banks based on scenarios over the next two years. From that they determined how much capital banks would need in the event of a significant worsening of financial and economic conditions with an intentionally stringent view. Read overview here.

Food Not Lawns... How to Turn Your Yard Into a Garden and Your Neighborhood Into a Community

2009-05-07T00:06:00.001-07:00

Gardens of gratitude is a community event to plant vegetable gardens all over the Los Angeles Region to inspire people to take out their lawns, plant organic food gardens. Reducing their footprint, water usage, etc. Just like the "victory gardens" of the WWI & WWII the current effort is to inspire people to grow their own food. Yet today there is not a "war effort" to support, nor is the effort being initiated by the national government... personal gardens are no less important.

I just planted my own garden with one of my neighbors in a plot of dirt next to my apartment building last weekend - tomatoes, squash, kale, rasberries, herbs. A true pleasure - brought neighbors together to have a pleasant afternoon - and even inspired some other residents of my building to start a garden of their own on a different part of the property where there are just weeds.

What fun!

From their website: "Everyone can have a garden. Grow herbs in your kitchen, a potted garden on your balcony, a fruit tree in the front yard, or replace your whole lawn with an edible food forest. Growing food can also help you cut your water usage dramatically, very important in our Mediterranean climate. Our resource page is full of guides to help you plan edible estates big and small. We can even help supply volunteer labor and the know how. It is the responsibility of the homeowner to come up with the design and materials for the garden (subsidized gardens are available for low income projects). Help us meet our challenge by signing up your site today!"

If you're in the LA Region (or not) start your own garden next weekend and plant for our collective victory!

If you like to read - I suggest you check out "Food Not Lawns International" a blog connected to the book of the same title as this blog post published by Chelsea Green Publishing.

I like the quote on the Chelsea Green Website for the book :'"Food Not Lawns is radical (rooted), subversive (underground), and seeded throughout with treasures that will sprout into savory, beautiful flowers. Don't just buy this book: Read it. Don't just read this book: Do it. Grow a garden. And let the weeds grow; they're good medicine."—Susun Weed, Wise Woman Herbal Series

S0 - bottom line. Don't bother with the book, just rip out grass and plant a vegetable garden!

Image from Wikipedia commons

Want to start a business in Gardening?

See this video:

Interview On Air America

2009-04-24T21:06:00.000-07:00

This is a link to an interview of Greg on Air America. Listen now!

Earth Policy News - "Plan B - Mobilization to Save Civilization"

2009-03-26T19:55:00.000-07:00

Want to read Earth Policy Institute's book "Plan B 3.0 Mobilizing to Save Civilization" - but just don't have time.

Here are the "cliff notes"

in the form of an excellent slide show on their website.

The Gospel of Consumption

2009-03-26T19:24:00.000-07:00

Most of us are unaware that we are religious fundamentalists - market fundamentalists... in the "religion" of traditional economics. The values of the current economic system are rarely in question of us operating in the global economic system. Many of us rarely consider whether or not concepts of limitless growth, ruthless competition, more stuff and other "fundamentals" of today's business environment are even up for question.

And most of us don't think twice when we hear that, according to modern economic thinking, that our primarly role in society is limited to a role "consumers" - mere functionaries in vast economic machine for the "growth" and the accumulation of money. And to boot, when we hear the growth of the economy we may not consider what is growing, and at what cost. More? Always good? At what cost?

Hmmm... Did the Beatles really have it right? "Money Can't Buy You Love."

Whether we like it or not - most of us are programmed through a barrage of media to have the appetite of simply having more cool stuff over quality of life, whether it be time for self improvement, with friends, family, and other forms of "quality time." In other words, according to a recent article by Jeffrey Kaplan in Orion Magazine, to some extent you can't live in this civilization without being indoctrinated, or at least heavily saturated with the "Gospel of Consumption."

Kaplan speaks of the reality that technology and industry were created to provide for our basic human needs, and enjoyment of life - anyone remember "the pursuit of happiness"?

Once machines make enough stuff, turn them off, and go live - was the basic thought behind Kellog's 6 hour work day in the 20's...

Then something changed - the "marketplace" turned Kellog to pursue something else - Money. More work hours, to make more stuff, to make more money. Workers were shifted to an eight hour work day... and quality of life was reduced for the workers.

"As far back as 1835, Boston workingmen striking for shorter hours declared that they needed time away from work to be good citizens: 'We have rights, and we have duties to perform as American citizens and members of society.' As those workers well understood, any meaningful democracy requires citizens who are empowered to create and re-create their government, rather than a mass of marginalized voters who merely choose from what is offered by an “invisible” government. Citizenship requires a commitment of time and attention, a commitment people cannot make if they are lost to themselves in an ever-accelerating cycle of work and consumption."

"We can break that cycle by turning off our machines when they have created enough of what we need. Doing so will give us an opportunity to re-create the kind of healthy communities that were beginning to emerge with Kellogg’s six-hour day, communities in which human welfare is the overriding concern rather than subservience to machines and those who own them. We can create a society where people have time to play together as well as work together, time to act politically in their common interests, and time even to argue over what those common interests might be. That fertile mix of human relationships is necessary for healthy human societies, which in turn are necessary for sustaining a healthy planet."

"...Our modern predicament is a case in point. By 2005 per capita household spending (in inflation-adjusted dollars) was twelve times what it had been in 1929, while per capita spending for durable goods—the big stuff such as cars and appliances—was thirty-two times higher. Meanwhile, by 2000 the average married couple with children was working almost five hundred hours a year more than in 1979. And according to reports by the Federal Reserve Bank in 2004 and 2005, over 40 percent of American families spend more than they earn. The average household carries $18,654 in debt, not including home-mortgage debt, and the ratio of household debt to income is at record levels, having roughly doubled over the last two decades. We are quite literally working ourselves into a frenzy just so we can consume all that our machines can produce."

"Yet we could work and spend a lot less and still live quite comfortably. By 1991 the amount of goods and services produced for each hour of labor was double what it had been in 1948. By 2006 that figure had risen another 30 percent. In other words, if as a society we made a collective decision to get by on the amount we produced and consumed seventeen years ago, we could cut back from the standard forty-hour week to 5.3 hours per day—or 2.7 hours if we were willing to return to the 1948 level. We were already the richest country on the planet in 1948 and most of the world has not yet caught up to where we were then. "

"Rather than realizing the enriched social life that Kellogg’s vision offered us, we have impoverished our human communities with a form of materialism that leaves us in relative isolation from family, friends, and neighbors. We simply don’t have time for them. Unlike our great-grandparents who passed the time, we spend it. An outside observer might conclude that we are in the grip of some strange curse, like a modern-day King Midas whose touch turns everything into a product built around a microchip."

Read the entire article here.

photo Orion Magazine taken by Photograph: Brian Ulrich

The Future of Money - a book for today written 8 years ago...

2009-03-18T20:12:00.000-07:00

The following entry is a cut and paste from a website that reviewed Bernard Lietaer's book which came out 8 years ago. As many are beginning to wake up to the reality that conventional economic theory is crumbling under the current crisis - and we just need to redesign our financial system from the bottom up.

Ideas expressed in the book - now out of print - are very timely and valuable fodder for the new economic paradigm emerging.

Of note that he uses the same phrase "global casino" as Hazel Henderson when referring to the global financial system.

It's time to create complimentary currencies everywhere - to support our collective well being.

"The Future of Money:
Creating New Wealth, Work, and a Wiser World

by Bernard Lietaer

The following bullets are reality-checks extracted from The Future of Money (published in January 2001, also available in German from http://www.futuremoney.de), illustrating the dramatic changes we face in the near future.

Your money's value is determined by a global casino of unprecedented proportions: $2 trillion are traded per day in foreign exchange markets, 100 times more than the trading volume of all the stockmarkets of the world combined. Only 2% of these foreign exchange transactions relate to the "real" economy reflecting movements of real goods and services in the world, and 98% are purely speculative. This global casino is triggering the foreign exchange crises which shook Mexico in 1994-5, Asia in 1997 and Russia in 1998. These emergencies are the dislocation symptoms of the old Industrial Age money system. Unless some precautions are taken soon, there is at least a 50-50 chance that the next five to ten years will see a global money meltdown, the only plausible way for a global depression.
The Information Age has already spawned new kinds of currencies: frequent flyer miles are evolving toward a "corporate scrip" (a private currency issued by a corporation) for the traveling elite; a giant corporation you never heard of is issuing its own "Netmarket Cash" for Internet commerce; even Alan Greenspan, Chairman of the Federal Reserve, foresees "new private currency markets in the 21st century."
Exorbitant compensations are paid to the very few at the top: it started with movie stars and sports heroes, and has now spread to top lawyers, traders, doctors, and business leaders. In the 1960’s CEO’s salaries were only thirty times greater than those of the average worker, compared with two hundred times today. Is this the dawn of a society where "Winner-takes-all" or a short-term last gasp of the transition out of the Industrial Age?

1,900 local communities in the world, including over a hundred in the US, are now issuing their own currency, independently from the national money system. Some communities, like in Ithaca, New York, issue paper currency; others in Canada, Australia, the UK or France issue complementary electronic money.
The value of barter transactions — exchanges which do not use any money as medium of exchange - totaled almost $6.5 billion in 1994 in the US and Canada, and is increasing three times faster than normal exchanges. The magazine "Barter News" covers the industry’s development and now has 30,000 subscribers. It estimates the total barter worldwide at $650 billion in 1997, and growing at an annual rate of 15%.
All of the above is part of an irreversible process of change in our money system and our societies. We are now in a transition period, an interval of great risk but also of great opportunity. The risks are not only financial, some of the emerging money technologies could create a society more repressive than anyone of us thought possible. More importantly major opportunities are also becoming available: now more than ever it has become possible to address some of the most critical issues of our times, such as enabling more meaningful work, fostering cooperation and community, even realigning long-term sustainability with financial interests. None of this is theory, real-life implementations have pragmatically demonstrated such results. Combining these innovations can make available a world of Sustainable Abundance within one generation.

Specifically in Europe, the traditional ways to handle unemployment are increasingly failing. In areas with high unemployment, people have already demonstrated that living conditions can be significantly improved by creating their own complementary currencies instead of just relying on welfare. Surprisingly, it is in fact not the first time that such solutions have been successfully implemented in the Modern world. During the 1930’s many thousands of such initiatives were operational in the US, Canada, Western Europe and other areas affected by the Depression. Complementary currencies could become a key tool to buffer a region from the shocks caused by failures and crises in the official money system. Finally, this approach is a win/win for both locally owned businesses and society at large.

The degradation of the environment due to short-term financial priorities can similarly be addressed with pragmatic money innovations. Short-term thinking is shown not to be due to human nature, but to the prevailing money system. It is also possible to reverse this process, by using a currency designed specifically for multinational trade and contracts which would make long-term thinking a spontaneous process, focusing the attention on long-term sustainable solutions without the need for regulations or taxation. Historical precedents have proven such results, some of them lasting over several centuries."

Reforming the Global Casino - advice from an Economic Sage

2009-03-09T23:12:00.000-07:00

Hazel Henderson has been a hero of mine since I saw her speak in 1989 at an environmental conference...

She recently released a piece on the current financial crisis entitled "MORE ADVICE FOR SUMMITEERS ON REFORMING THE GLOBAL CASINO" in which she underscores the core of the problem: the flaws in the fractional reserve banking system upon which our entire financial system is built...

I excerpt here-
"The 800-pound elephant still not acknowledged is the need for monetary reform of fractional reserve banking itself, which allows banks to create most of a nation’s money-supply as debt – out of thin air. Restoring the right of democratic nations to coin their currency directly (as required in the US Constitution) is now essential, particularly in the USA where debt is now crushing every sector and the Federal Reserve along with the Treasury are now printing money in clear sight of taxpayers. In Britain, there are many such proposals for reforming the Bank of England, including those of the New Economics Foundation, banking experts James Robertson and those of Canada's Committee on Monetary and Economic Reform (www.comer.com). The American Monetary Institute has introduced a bill in the US Congress to achieve the gradual change needed in our banking system (www.monetary.org).

The market-fundamentalists abetted by the economics profession and the Bank of Sweden have waged a 30 year campaign to portray economics as a science. They succeeded in persuading the Nobel Committee to set up a $1 million prize in the 1960s with the late Milton Friedman of the laissez-faire Chicago School as its early recipient. This so-called Bank of Sweden Prize in Economic Science in Memory of Alfred Nobel is now being criticized by many, including Nobel's heir, lawyer Peter Nobel, Nassim Nicholas Taleb, author of The Black Swan (2007), myself and many mathematicians including Ralph Abraham, Benoit Mandelbrot and other scientists. Too many of these subsequent Bank of Sweden "Nobel Memorial" prizes have been awarded to laissez-faire economists, particularly those whose research purported to prove (using specious mathematics) why central banks must be free of all political control – even by the most democratically elected governments. Today we see central bankers out of control, printing money, awarding favored treatment to large banks, reckless insurance companies like AIG, and claiming the privilege of secrecy. The US Federal Reserve Board even refused Freedom of Information requests by Bloomberg, Fox News and other media with questions as to which companies have been so favored and by how much. Now that the US Treasury is at last disclosing where the first $350 billion of TARP funds went, perhaps the Fed will follow suit.

More fundamentally, the failures of global monetary systems are rooted in the expansion of human knowledge and innovation as we transition from the early fossil-fueled Industrial Era to the cleaner technologies of the information-rich Solar Age (see figure 2). Just as the gold standard failed to provide enough “bandwidth” for all the growth, innovation and new communication and transactions of the Industrial Age, so today’s money circuits cannot provide enough bandwidth for the greatly expanded communications and trading of today’s growing Information economy (see figure 3)."

Everything's Amazing and Nobody's Happy

2009-03-04T07:18:00.000-08:00

Just got this from EnlightenNext Magazine - hilarious, and true... worth the 5 minutes.

"In a recent appearance on Late Night with Conan O'Brien, stand-up comedian Louis C.K. offered a poignant and hilarious wake-up call when he pointed out one of the tremendous ironies of our time: the fact that, in the midst of the most highly evolved and technologically sophisticated civilization in human history, we still often overlook our incredible privilege and manage to feel strangely blasé about it all..."

The world's rich pouring money into "green" deals

2009-03-03T13:37:00.001-08:00

Many of the global wealthiest people are making investments into industries and causes considered green. The Times posted a list of some of the largest investments in green done by mega wealthy along with associated article.

They're pouring money into the usual suspects like wind power, renewable fuel, renewable energy, solar power, electric cars, packaging, etc.

Yet I'm particularly delighted by funds flowing into some notable categories oft underlooked by the typical VC and Wall Street mindset which are very encouraging developments:

Hansjörg Wyss Switzerland £6bn Open spaces conservation
Dennis Washington USA £2.7bn Conservation
Alicia and Tannetta Fentener van Vlissingen Holland £2.4bn Conservation
David Rockefeller USA £ 1.7bn Sustainable agriculture
Nicky Oppenheimer S Africa £1.5bn Wildlife conservation
Ted Turner USA £1.2bn Wildlife conservation
Morris Kahn Israel £350m Environmental protection
Gordon Moore, founder of Intel, £1.8bn in biodiversity
Felix Dennis,UK £500 Tree planting

Go here for the entire list and get all the details on the players and their investments...

Real Wealth is well being.

2009-02-24T23:35:00.000-08:00

A recent Truthout.org article called "Beyond Scarcity: Reinventing Wealth in a Progressive Society" shares different perspectives of wealth.

The article points out different definitions and understandings of wealth -

"Wealth is Well-being

Wealth is seen as the well-being of individuals, society and the earth. Wealth is already present in nature; it is not "created." Clean air and water, strong communities and fertile soils are inherently valuable because our well-being depends on them - independent of markets.

In this view, to "do good" is a form of wealth preservation. We can see this with a form of common wealth that we all depend upon - the air we breathe. The logic works like this:

1. Wealth is anything that creates well-being.

2. Clean air increases well-being, so it is a form of wealth.

3. Dirtying the air reduces well-being, so it is a loss of wealth.

4. Keeping the air clean is preserving wealth.

Put another way, as progressives we recognize that even the hardest working person will starve if there is no food. Conversely, we believe that the Good Life is about more than money (beautifully depicted in this video by Free Range Studios)."

Here's the video - which narrates the classic story I heard first from my first spiritual teacher Swami Muktananda.

Essential Bucky Fuller at the Whitney....

2009-02-23T04:13:00.000-08:00

Green Stimulus Package - details from Green Dig!

2009-02-09T22:33:00.000-08:00

Karl Burkhart creator of the excellent blog "Green Dig" -outlines some of the high points of his article on MNN - "The Green Stimulus Package Decoded"

* The Department of Energy’s appropriation jumps dramatically upward, from a typical $2 billion annual budget for EERE (Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy) to $14.4 billion. With this increased funding comes a dramatic shift in DOE operations. Normally, that $2 billion is used mostly to cover R&D. No money goes out for implementation except for a few grants. Now the DOE will distribute the money to grant applicants directly, adding their decades of expertise to on-the-ground implementation.

* Finally the restrictive $2000 cap was removed from an existing law that provides a 30 percent tax rebate for building owners installing solar systems. The cap made the bill almost irrelevant, and lifting it is expected to dramatically spur adoption of solar. It also is broadened to include other systems like geothermal.

* $7 billion will go directly to upgrading and retrofitting federal buildings to higher levels of water and energy efficiency. This is geared towards rapidly creating green jobs.

* $6.5 billion will go into revamping the nation’s energy grid. Right now the U.S. is a 21st century civilization powered by an early 20th century electrical grid (metaphorically it’s a bit like having our freeway system paved in dirt). This appropriation will upgrade the grid to allow the expansion of intermittent power sources like solar and wind, though there are some skeptics.

* $22 billion in tax breaks spread over 10 years (not counting accelerated depreciations) will give companies an incentive to implement EERE.

* $60 billion in load guarantees will be run out of DOE backing the expansion of new energy companies. The federal government becomes 10 percent backer of the loan, providing a reduced interest rate, much like a T-bill. Some of this will go to emergent technologies like nuclear and cellulosic biomass and, yes, “clean coal.”

* $4.2 billion for block grants for EERE inside the DOE’s $14.4 billion. Half of this money, $2.1 billion, will go right to the states for community development awarded based on population and will include local and tribal government projects (casinos excluded!). The other half will be competitively awarded, with priority given to projects that incorporate energy efficiency and include broad coalitions, such as groups of cities.
* Ways & Means repaired another tax problem that prohibited taking the renewable energy tax credit if other sources of funding, like county financing, were received. Congressman Mike Thompson succeeded in spearheading he reversal of this IRS ruling.

There are some additional moneys coming down the pipeline, most notably…

* The Clean Counties Grant Program. Here NOCa was highly effective working with decision makers on the Hill to incorporate a special program inside the upcoming Energy Bill (not part of the Recovery Bill). The grant program is a huge victory in breaking down the barriers between technologies. Normally, if an applicant wanted to do both solar and water conservation, they would have to apply twice to two different entities. Now the grant will no longer be segmented by technology, but rather be fundable as an integrated whole.

* $3.2 billion for qualified environmental conservation bonds awarded at the county level based on population.

* Senator Waxman is hard at work on a Clean Air Bill that is expected to come up for a vote in the Spring. Details are not yet available, but it is widely expected that a cap & trade system will be put in place, allowing renewable energy producers to raise additional funds by selling carbon credits to manufacturers who will now be subject to a cap on their greenhouse gas emissions.

The problem with single issue movements - ECONOMICS

2009-02-08T23:15:00.000-08:00

Wendell Berry wrote this article in Resurgence Magazine on the shortcomings of single issue movements a number of years ago - yet it applies.

"Essay : In Distrust of Movements by Wendell Berry
The movements which deal with single issues or single solutions are bound to fail because they cannot control effects while leaving causes in place."

In it he describes some of the core challenges to any single issue movement...

He lays out some conditions:

"... My first condition is that this movement should begin by giving up all hope and belief in piecemeal, one-shot solutions...

My second condition is that the people in this movement (the mtewiid) should take full responsibility for themselves as members of the economy.

...My third condition is that this movement should content itself to be poor. We need to find cheap solutions, solutions within the reach of everybody, and the availability of a lot of money prevents the discovery of cheap solutions...."

And I especially like his comments in support of local economy:

"If it is unreasonable to expect a bad economy to try to become a good one, then we must go to work to build a good economy. It is appropriate that this duty should fall to us, for good economic behaviour is more possible for us than it is for the great corporations with their miseducated managers and their greedy and oblivious stockholders. Because it is possible for us, we must try in every way we can to make good economic sense in our own lives, in our households, and in our communities. We must do more for ourselves and our neighbours. We must learn to spend our money with our friends and not with our enemies. But to do this it is necessary to renew local economies and revive the domestic arts."

Bottom line - the entire article is worth the read.

Report "High Road or Low Road - Job Quality in the Green Economy"

2009-02-05T00:45:00.000-08:00

A report analyzing job quality in the new green economy.

The report outlines the challenges and opportunities faced in uniting labor interests and environmental stewardship. There is an opportunity in creating jobs that are good paying and improve quality of life and environmental performance.

"There is a significant ray of hope amid the current economic gloom: it goes by the name of green jobs. ACer several years of calls by advocacy groups for major public investments in a clean-energy revolution, the federal government now appears ready to include large sums for projects involving renewable energy, mass transit, energy efficiency and modernization of the nation’s electrical grid in the massive economic recovery and reinvestment plan being devised by Congress."

"Agenda for a New Economy From Phantom Wealth to Real Wealth"

2009-02-01T10:41:00.000-08:00

I'm looking forward to getting David Korten's New Book - "Today’s economic crisis is the worst since the Great Depression. However, as David Korten shows, the steps being taken to address it – including pouring trillions of dollars into bailouts for the Wall Street institutions that created the mess – do nothing to deal with the reality of a failed economic system. It’s like treating cancer with band aids. And the financial collapse now in the public spotlight is only the tip of the iceberg. The system’s social and environmental failures may ultimately be even more destructive."

"Korten identifies the deeper sources of the failure: Wall Street institutions that have perfected the art of creating phantom “wealth” without producing anything of real value. Its major players engage in speculative trading, buy into asset bubbles, create debt pyramids, and engage in predatory lending practices. Their seeming success created an economic mirage that led us to believe the economy was expanding exponentially, even as our economic, social, and natural capital eroded and most people struggled ever harder to make ends meet."

What others are saying about Agenda for a New Economy

The story behind the book

Our hope lies not with Wall Street, Korten argues, but with Main Street, which creates real wealth from real resources to meet real needs. He outlines an agenda to liberate the latent entrepreneurial energies of Main Street from Wall Street’s deadly grip and bring into being a new economy—locally based, community-oriented, and devoted to creating a better life for all, not simply increasing profits. It will require courageous and imaginative changes to how we measure economic success, organize our financial system, even the very way we create money. Korten outlines a challenging, but practical agenda summarized at the end of the book in his version of the economic address to the nation he wishes Barak Obama were able to deliver.

Korten’s intention is not to offer final answers, but rather to provoke discussion of options that powerful interests prefer not be mentioned. These interests devised the system that has brought us to the brink of ruin. It’s time to turn away from the Wall Street system of phantom wealth and return to an economy firmly rooted in the long-term health of people and the planet.

Contents
Preface

Gort Cloud - New book: building businesses through the network....

2009-01-30T17:35:00.000-08:00

Here's the highlights from the book's website:

Looks interesting!

"Brand expert Richard Seireeni interviewed over two dozen "ecopreneurs" from a broad range of industries - home improvement, transportation, household products, food and beverage, energy, real estate, finance, and fashion. The collective experience of leaders such as Gary Hirshberg of Stonyfield Farm, Jeffrey Hollender of Seventh Generation, and the grandsons of Dr. Bronner, as well as other green experts, are a rich source of wisdom for green businesses getting off the ground or for any business aiming to improve its environmental performance."

"The result of these interviews is the discovery of "The Gort Cloud" - a term coined by the author that describes the vast and largely invisible network of NGOs, trendspotters, advocacy groups, social networks, business alliances, certifying organizations, and other members of the green community that have the power to make or break new green brands."

"Integrating The Gort Cloud into brand development and marketing strategies is critical to the success of any aspiring green brand. This "green community" can supply technical assistance, venture capital, the first line of core customers, and tremendous "echo effect" in getting the word out quickly and inexpensively."

"Creating a cause, building credibility, developing a simple and compelling message, identifying core customers and sales channels, deftly playing the green alternative media, and fending off second-to-market competitors are all required to build a green brand. How these skills are put into practice will vary for each business, but Seireeni's research points toward a set of shared characteristics and basic tenets that every business can use to build a credible and successful green brand."

Image from website as well.

Corporate Responsibility as Innovation Engine

2009-01-29T14:18:00.000-08:00

CSR is increasingly driving corporations to change - and innovate!

I found it of interest that Stanford Social Innovation Review posted this on their site.

A letter to Obama... from a visionary.

2009-01-21T23:19:00.001-08:00

I couldn't agree more!

From a visionary and true supporter of brilliance - wherever it lives...Duke Stump:

"Dear Mr. President

Kudos!

Your emergence as President of the US has given new meaning for living the extraordinary. Stoked you made it. Now the hard part - igniting a nation to focus on what could be versus what is.

I know your busy, but I simply wanted to offer up five quick thoughts for you to consider as you continue to build out your green team:

1. Call it Team Humanity and awaken us to the real essence of the green movement

2. Adopt Life’s Principles to inform your strategy

* Build from the bottom up
* Self-assemble
* Optimize rather than maximize
* Use free energy, cross-pollinate
* Embrace diversity
* Adapt and evolve
* Use life-friendly materials and processes
* Engage in symbiotic relationships
* Enhance the bio-sphere

3. Develop a Northstar (i.e. vision) for 2020 in a way that we are incredibly inspired and greatly empowered because we see our place and our contribution in the journey.

4. Break the rules that bind. Add an Anthropologist, Biologist, Humanist and representation from Gen Y (affectionately referred to as Generation WE) to the team.

5. Cite Buckminster Fuller frequently and often so that his teachings and principles will be optimized.

Good luck!

Live, love & laugh,

Duke

PS. I think it would be great if you built a local CSA farm on the White House lawn. Cool?"

Social Investment Forum's recommendations for Obama

2009-01-21T00:13:00.000-08:00

The trade association of which I am a member "Social Investment Forum" has made a list of recommendations for the Obama administration as to corporate social responsibility and socially responsible investing.

The recommendations are part of a larger document and the basic points are here:
"The socially responsible investment community urges the Obama Administration to:

• Establish clear parameters and effective regulations for the financial system and
stimulate transparent assessment of financial as well as environmental, social, and good governance factors;
• Enhance access to the corporate proxy ballot so that long-term shareholders have a say in the nomination of corporate directors and in protecting shareholder value;
• Support corporate responsibility or sustainability reporting by public companies;
• Restate the consensus view that fiduciary duty may compel fiduciaries to consider
environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors;
• Assert global leadership in combating climate change, including through tax incentives and significant public investments in clean energy technology, energy efficiency, and green collar jobs and training;
• Take a critical look at lending policies and create more accountability in the lending marketplace;
• Create more opportunities for financially struggling homeowners to restructure their mortgages, helping them stay in their homes and out of foreclosure;
• Endorse legislation that provides for socially responsible investing options in the federal government’s retirement plan;
• Create an Office for Innovation in Corporate Social Responsibility to enhance and
coordinate interagency CSR activities, allowing the federal government to become a
state-of-the-art leader in CSR across its vast domestic and international arenas of
influence."

Resilient Cities...

2009-01-20T18:38:00.000-08:00

This an excellent presentation full of information for the renewing of our cities in teh face of peak oil, climate change, economic crisis.

Obama!

2009-01-20T17:12:00.001-08:00

Terra TRC - A white paper on a very sophisticated alternative currency

2009-01-19T01:45:00.000-08:00

This White Paper is right on track - as it is the essence of the vision of Terra TRC developed by Bernard Lietaer and Jacqui Dunne, who are some of the visionaries behind this innovative currency.

Here's what they write on their website to articulate the essence of their Terra TRC strategy:

"The Trade Reference Currency (TRC) TM is a new currency privately issued by the TRC Alliance, with a built-in circulation incentive that could play a significant role in getting the world out of recession. Its unit of account is the Terra. It would systematically stabilize the effects on the business cycle and re-align financial interests with long-term sustainability."

"Without the Terra

"The experience for Business in particular is:

"More expensive and riskier international activities
Deeper and longer recessions worldwide
Non-standardized and expensive counter-trade deals
Irresolvable conflict between the short-term financial demands of their shareholders and long-term sustainability
Massive losses of jobs"

Top Ten Greenwashes of 2008

2009-01-10T09:52:00.001-08:00

Here are the top 10 greenwashes of 2008 according to Green Home.

Secrets of Collaborative Leadership - an article by Andy Manle

2009-01-10T00:44:00.000-08:00

My friend Andy Manle wrote this piece on Arcwire.com based on an event that I attended.

Sustainable Consumption report

2009-01-10T00:38:00.000-08:00

Since a majority of our economy is driven by the consumer - how do we maintain economic growth in the old paradigm and not consume our planet's resources to nothing?

Hmmm... something to consider.
Download this report which discusses the issues of "Sustainable Consumption - Facts and Trends"

Los Angeles: The History of the Future = from the visionary behind Ithaca Hours

2009-01-05T17:50:00.001-08:00

Many people may not be aware that years ago in the eighties the Paul Glover - the creator of the well known complementary currency, Ithaca Hours and Ithaca Hours Online, was an activist in Los Angeles!

He was instrumental in creating "Citizen Planners of Los Angeles." It looks like he was very much ahead of his time with his vision "Los Angeles: A history of the Future"

His website states:

"Los Angeles has four awesome powers:

- There is such potent soil under the pavement that this county was the greatest garden in the United States, the top food producer of all counties, between 1910 and 1950.
- The sun shines on this place 290 days yearly. A growing season 350 days long permits continuous harvest.
- Our ten million people can work together. Skins all shades of night and smoke, of soil and wood, of fire, seashells and sand cluster and mix on the plain. We resent and love and hurt and help each other. We are magnificent.
- Water under this desert gives half the amount now used countywide. The ocean desalted is an endless supply.

How do we begin to employ these strengths to create a fruitful, self-reliant city, a sensual city worthy of excellent people and land? How do we prove the region's resources can sustain us?

The first work of citizen planners would be to redesign Los Angeles as boldly as government and industry do: to plan transformations with solar technology and orchards like commerce plans with highways and realty. We would plan broadly enough to coordinate regional use of our resources and flexibly enough to rely on initiatives by individuals and neighborhoods."

I agree!

Twitter Democracy = Mobilize.org

2008-12-24T15:10:00.000-08:00

I have been thinking for a while about making a project to rewrite the Constitution and Bill of Rights to be relevant to our time together in this country today.

Naturally the heart and spirit of the documents are vital and present, I believe that engaging citizens in the process on a wiki page will invite deep and thoughtful civic engagement.

I posted my thoughts on twitter about 10 days ago: "Rewrite wikipedia style - Constitution 2.0? Bill of Rights 2.0?"

And on Twitter - godemocracy just started following me and on their tweets I found out about a group working along the same lines with people 12-32 years old:

From their website:

"Mobilize.org is an all-partisan network dedicated to educating, empowering, and energizing young people to increase our civic engagement and political participation. We work to show young people how public policy impacts our lives, and more importantly – how we can impact public policy

"Our Theory of Change "

"Our theory of change starts with the individual citizen identifying problems at the local, state and national levels. Once problems are identified, citizens must engage in conversations searching for innovative solutions to the problems they have identified. Mobilize.org seeks to take the individual actor past the deliberation stage, enabling members of the Millennial Generation to implement their solutions. Through the success of citizen-generated initiatives, Mobilize.org's end goal is to institutionalize citizen-generated solutions as a staple of American governance at all levels."

"...With over 220 Democracy 2.0 Entrepreneurs on college and high school campuses and in communities across the country, Entrepreneurs organize around issues that are important to their local community."

"This is what democracy smells like" - students protest and demand SRI - in "1960's version 2.0"

2008-12-24T13:43:00.000-08:00

A recent article in cited a student protest where students of "New School" in NYC where students occupied a university building and demanded the school's president quit over a number of issues.

The protest ended this week:

An article states: "Kerrey also agreed to allow students the use of the Fifth Ave. building, 'until a suitable replacement is secured and instituted, which would include the reinstallment of suitable library and study space.' The school president also agreed to provide new library space in The New School’s Arnold Hall and 7,000 square feet of quiet study space in the school’s Sheila Jackson Galleries by the end of the spring semester.

The six-point document also granted student participation in establishing a committee for socially responsible investing; gave the University Student Senate 'the ability to communicate with the student body freely' — something they said they had previously not been allowed — and granted access for a student senate representative to attend meetings of the school’s board of trustees.

'We weren’t being radical, we were being reasonable,' Emmad explained. 'We were simply trying to defend our school.'

As 4 a.m. approached, the ebullient crowd walked to Union Square. After two nights and a day inside the cafeteria, one participant, riffing on a chant from earlier in the day, said, 'This is what democracy smells like.' Then someone turned on a boom box and students began dancing.

After a peaceful climax to 32 hours of occupation, it seemed like the dawn of the 1960s Version 2.0."

How the bailout is supposed to work? Or is working?

2008-12-16T03:16:00.001-08:00

Hmmm.... check out this image. click to enlarge

Indian Farmers Using Coke and Pepsi as pesticides

2008-12-15T01:02:00.000-08:00

Watch this Video

Schwarzenegger tells U.N.: Green rules help markets

2008-12-12T03:00:00.001-08:00

Schwarzenegger tells U.N.: Green rules help markets

POZNAN, Poland (Reuters) - Green regulations will help both the environment and ailing economies, California's Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger told a 187-nation U.N. climate conference on Monday.

"Of course, there are some people who say that we can't afford the fight against global warming while our economies are down," he said in a video message on the sidelines of the December 1-12 U.N. meeting in Poznan, western Poland.

"But the exact opposite is true," he said.

California, which is the world's fifth biggest economy on its own, has been leading other U.S. states in the fight against climate change.

"The green rules and regulations that will help save our planet will also revive our economies," the governor aid.

The Poznan talks are reviewing progress toward a new global pact to fight climate change meant to be agreed at the end of 2009 in Copenhagen. The talks have been overshadowed by the global financial crisis.

Schwarzenegger also said he would attend the Copenhagen talks to support U.S. President-elect Barack Obama.

The Poznan talks are a step on the way to agree a new worldwide climate pact to replace the Kyoto Protocol when it runs out in 2012. The United States is the only industrialized nation that has not ratified the Kyoto treaty.

President George W. Bush said Kyoto was unfair because it did not set caps on emissions by emerging nations like China and India and he reckoned it would be too costly for the U.S..

Obama has promised much tougher action on fighting climate change and intends for the U.S. to be more involved in environmental efforts when he takes over the presidency in January.

(Writing by Gabriela Baczynska; Editing by Matthew Jones)

My Vision For America

2008-12-07T23:59:00.000-08:00

Just posted this as my vision for America on change.gov

MY VISION FOR AMERICA
12 / 08 / 2008 12:13 AM

Our country's culture is thriving and well with education, spirituality, healthcare, leisure and commerce in alignment with the natural systems upon which we all depend for life.

Our healthy culture thrives with every person inspired by integrity with each other as we live recognizing interdependence and collaboration as the basis of our success.

Our green economy is a model and blueprint of regenerative economic activity which actually restores healthy ecosystems and natural habitat for plants and animals.

Our reverence for each other and all life is the basis for our system of ethics, our thriving green economy, and our culture's message to the other inhabitants on our Planet Earth.

America has renewed and restored it's Golden Destiny to serve the betterment and evolution of life on the planet."

Please input your own vision for America - www.change.gov

Wealthiest man in the world Bill Gates started out Dumpster Diving...

2008-12-05T01:32:00.000-08:00

According to AnneAlexander of www.ecospace.cc:

"Tuesday was the birthday of the founder of Microsoft, Bill Gates, born in 1955 in Seattle. When Gates was in 8th grade, the Lakeside Mothers Club had a rummage sale and used the money to get computer equipment for the school. Gates and his friend Paul Allen got swept up in the excitement of this new technology. They rummaged through dumpsters at the nearby Computer Center Corporation to find notes written by programmers, and with that information, they wrote a 300-page manual. In 1975, they started Microsoft."

"This is a modern day example of the “diamonds in your backyard” concept, shared by Russell Conwell (1843- 1925), an American minister, lawyer, writer, and outstanding orator, in his book, Acres of Diamonds."

"According to Wikipedia, “The central idea of Acres of Diamonds is that one need not look elsewhere for opportunity, achievement, or fortune — the resources to achieve all good things are present in your own community. This theme is developed by an introductory anecdote, told to Conwell by an Arab guide, about a man who wanted to find diamonds so badly that he sold his property and went off in futile search for them; the new owner of his home discovered that a rich diamond mine was located right there on the property.” "

"Gates and Allen got their start dumpster diving in their own neighborhood. They were following their passion."

"They didn’t get distracted by the next “bright, shiny object” and lose their interest in computers. Moving onto the next thing too quickly is a common tendency in entrepreneurs. They get fixated on the next “bright, shiny object” that comes along, sometimes aborting the development of a current project. “Surely,” they say to themselves, “this amazing new (fill in the blank – product, program, guru, etc.) will mean my true success!” And they forget the diamonds in their own backyard."

"Maybe it’s time for you to do a little digging to rediscover the wealth buried in your own “backyard” - your community, your true talents and passions."

"Maybe it’s time to go dumpster diving in your own business, your relationship, your network. Without any doubt, there are many diamonds there, waiting patiently for you to pick them up, dust them off and bring them to a world crying out for them."

"We need your brilliance, and it’s not “out there.” It’s as close as your heartbeat. Let me know what you find."

"Anne Alexander helps small green business owners grow their businesses. Find out how at www.GrowYourGreenBusiness.com"

The Latest from Billionaire George Soros on Financial Crisis

2008-12-04T18:17:00.000-08:00

I just finished George Soros’ latest book “The New Paradigm for Financial Markets – The Credit Crisis of 2008 and What it Means”

He just wrote an article on his thoughts for the New York Times Review of Books – which is a great summary of the thinking outlined in his book and update on his ideas.

The article is of interest if you want to learn of Soros’ basic ideas on markets, financial theories, etc. and his views of how regulation should be moderated by a new paradigm of financial thinking which he calls “reflexivity.”

"The misconception is derived from the prevailing theory of financial markets, which, as mentioned earlier, holds that financial markets tend toward equilibrium and that deviations are random and can be attributed to external causes. This theory has been used to justify the belief that the pursuit of self-interest should be given free rein and markets should be deregulated. I call that belief market fundamentalism and claim that it employs false logic. Just because regulations and all other forms of governmental interventions have proven to be faulty, it does not follow that markets are perfect."

The ultimate moment of the breakdown of market fundamentalism was when Greenspan admitted that he was wrong in his pursuit of free market fundamentalism which allowed this bubble to get out of hand. MSNBC Reports, "Badgered by lawmakers, former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan denied the nation’s economic crisis was his fault on Thursday but conceded the meltdown had revealed a flaw in a lifetime of economic thinking and left him in a 'state of shocked disbelief.'"

Soros is clear that regulation is necessary - yet in the current situation he is cautious of the pendulum swinging too far the other direction.

Here’s a link - and here are last two paragraphs:
“Since the risk management models used until now ignored the uncertainties inherent in reflexivity, limits on credit and leverage will have to be set substantially lower than those that were tolerated in the recent past. This means that financial institutions in the aggregate will be less profitable than they have been during the super-bubble and some business models that depended on excessive leverage will become uneconomical. The financial industry has already dropped from 25 percent of total market capitalization to 16 percent. This ratio is unlikely to recover to anywhere near its previous high; indeed, it is likely to end lower. This may be considered a healthy adjustment, but not by those who are losing their jobs.”

“In view of the tremendous losses suffered by the general public, there is a real danger that excessive deregulation will be succeeded by punitive reregulation. That would be unfortunate because regulations are liable to be even more deficient than the market mechanism. As I have suggested, regulators are not only human but also bureaucratic and susceptible to lobbying and corruption. It is to be hoped that the reforms outlined here will preempt a regulatory overkill.”

My friend Dan Krimm responded to this and I thought he said it so well - I'll post his comments:

Cool. So, "reflexivity" amounts to a sort of feedback loop between
perceptions and reality (along the lines that some political elites
characterize as "perception *is* reality"...). Sometimes that feedback is
corrective, but sometimes it is self-reinforcing.

In other words, the financial system is rife with highly nonlinear
dynamics, and thus not reliably equilibrium-seeking. (This is what
Nicholas Nassim Taleb was getting at in his 2007 book "The Black Swan".)

Taleb points out at one point in *his* book that fully 50% of the gain in
the market over the last several decades can be isolated to *ten individual
days*. He points out that this violates the assumption that the randomness
of the market is "Brownian random-walk" randomness that tends to fit a
Gaussian bell curve (so-called "normal distribution" underlying
conventional statistical tools used for conventional risk analysis --
outliers are supposed to be unimportant in influencing the mean). On the
contrary, the variability in the market is self-scaling in a much more
extreme manner, like earthquakes, along the lines of Benoit Mandlebrot's
"hyperbolic scaling distributions" more commonly called "power-law
distributions" (where outliers can make a huge difference in the mean).

The fact that all the risk analysts were using an abjectly false assumption
about the distribution of variation in the market was one huge contributor
to the cluelessness in recognizing the potential for and strategically
avoiding this magnitude of disaster.

In short, market analysts have assumed that all the oddities of market
jumps are anomalous and external in origin. (Otherwise, as Soros points
out, the market would be assumed to reach equilibrium.) But in fact, this
nonlinear effect is internal in origin.

As the economists would say, not exogenous, but rather, endogenous.

I really hope that people in the market get this message loud and clear,
and the sooner the better. The orthodoxy is what got us into this mess.

And Alan Greenspan was "shocked, simply shocked"...

The solution: rein-in the nonlinear dynamics with smart regulation. Cap
the degree of risk leverage. Regulate things that look and behave like
insurance (credit default swaps) like other forms of insurance. Require
information transparency (trails of origin) in derivative securities, so
you can actually trace the behavior of the elements that comprise them.

Why do we care if some investor gets hit by the risk they take on, however
unwittingly? Because we are all invested in it, in the end, through
multiplier effects. The stability of the economy is a public good, and the
public deserves to protect itself collectively by regulation that
illuminates and contains risk.

It is patently unfair to society to privatize the upside while socializing
the downside.

Dan

B of A - stops financing Mountaintop Removal Coal Mining.

2008-12-04T17:55:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, RAN celebrated a great victory! Bank of America posted a new coal policy on its website announcing that it will phase out financing of mountaintop removal coal mining!

Here's the commitment in their words:

"Bank of America is particularly concerned about surface mining conducted through mountain top removal in locations such as central Appalachia. We therefore will phase out financing of companies whose predominant method of extracting coal is through mountain top removal. While we acknowledge that surface mining is economically efficient and creates jobs, it can be conducted in a way that minimizes environmental impacts in certain geographies."

Rainforest Action Network was largely responsible for the action:

They state - "Since we launched our "No Coal" campaign against Bank of America and Citi last October, one of our central demands has been that they stop providing support for mountaintop removal coal mining. We applaud Bank of America for taking this important step to reduce its financing of dirty coal. But we also need to keep the pressure on them -- as well as on Citi and other banks that finance coal -- to ensure that they continue to curtail financing for dirty energy and start funding the future through energy efficiency and renewable energy."

RAN is one of the most effective environmental groups, dollar for dollar and has brought about a tremendous amount of change in corporate America.

RAN ON!

There's a Free Lunch of understanding for us...by embracing new ideas

2008-11-30T20:17:00.001-08:00

Friends - to accept that we have deeply damaged, or perhaps destroyed many ecosystems, and our once prevailing economic system, is not pessimistic. To the contrary, it is highly constructive. To embrace the problem is the most positive thing to do, since only then can we identify the remaining solutions that can actually work.

If you want to get a cliff notes version of the current financial crisis I encourage you to read Paul Krugman's column in NY Times. He does a marvelous job of recapping the situation, and how other countries have navigated successfully through similar crisis in the past.

He finished with what I believe were his most important points. Shed light on the reality that we have no scarcity of ideas, ingenuity and creativity. I believe it is absolutely possible that we can derive a period of great well being and prosperity for humanity from the financial meltdown - simply by thinking different.

Here are his words, "As readers may have gathered, I believe not only that we're living in a new era of depression economics, but also that John Maynard Keynes - the economist who made sense of the Great Depression - is now more relevant than ever. Keynes concluded his masterwork, The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money, with a famous disquisition on the importance of economic ideas: "Soon or late, it is ideas, not vested interests, which are dangerous for good or evil."

"We can argue about whether that's always true, but in times like these, it definitely is. The quintessential economic sentence is supposed to be "There is no free lunch"; it says that there are limited resources, that to have more of one thing you must accept less of another, that there is no gain without pain. Depression economics, however, is the study of situations where there is a free lunch, if we can only figure out how to get our hands on it, because there are unemployed resources that could be put to work. The true scarcity in Keynes's world - and ours - was therefore not of resources, or even of virtue, but of understanding."

"We will not achieve the understanding we need, however, unless we are willing to think clearly about our problems and to follow those thoughts wherever they lead. Some people say that our economic problems are structural, with no quick cure available; but I believe that the only important structural obstacles to world prosperity are the obsolete doctrines that clutter the minds of men."

Paul Krugman - November 20, 2008 - Read entire article here.

Gore - The Internet Could save Society

2008-11-09T03:07:00.000-08:00

On SiloBreaker.com -

SAN FRANCISCO, California – Former US vice president Al Gore said an Internet revolution carrying Barack Obama to the White House should now focus its power on stopping Earth's climate crisis.

The one-time presidential contender turned environmental champion told Web 2.0 Summit goers in San Francisco Friday that technology has provided tools to save the planet while creating jobs and stimulating the crippled economy.

"The young people who have been inspired by Barack Obama's campaign and the movement that powered Barack Obama's campaign want a purpose," Gore said.

"One of the reasons we were all thrilled Tuesday night is it was pretty obvious this was a collectively intelligent decision."

The Internet's critical role in Democrat Obama's victory in the presidential race against Republican John McCain was a "great blow for victory" in addressing a "democracy crisis" stifling action against climate change, Gore said.

The Web has "revolutionized" nearly every aspect of running for US president and delivered an "electrifying redemption" of the founding national principle that all people are created equal, according to Gore.

Renewing civilization - we need the caterpillar to create the butterfly!

2008-10-07T17:44:00.001-07:00

Think about it - we need the caterpillar to create the butterfly!

I was at a lunch meeting today and we were discussing the current crisis in the financial markets as a much need adjustment to the overstimulated system.

One of us said something to the effect "This system needs to die for us to have a new, better system."

I responded and shared that the system doesn't need to die, it simply needs to evolve, and become better.

Just as a caterpillar does not die to become a butterfly, it simply changes. We all need to hold space for this system to metamorphosis into a new and improved reality for all.

Our economic strategy of endless consumption to measure the growth of our economy must end, simply because we live on a planet with finite resources.

The experience of well being for all can be shared by utilizing all of our planet's resources in a more efficient manner. We must implement evolutionary ideas, values and technologies which can help the system to simply evolve without breakdown.

"If the positive innovations connect exponentially before the massive breakdowns reinforce oneanother, the system can repattern itself to a higher order of consciousness and freedom without the predicted economic, environmental, or social collapse." Barbara Marx Hubbard

Photo from creative commons.

Denmark - grow your economy and reduce energy consumption

2008-09-17T13:22:00.000-07:00

Thomas Friedman wrote an excellent Op-Ed piece in New York times - on his visit to Denmark and their energy infrastructure...

Basically Denmark, like California has successfully grown it's economy while at the same time reducing or keeping it's energy consumption steady...while at the same time building a world class wind industry - far ahead of the US, and only rivaled by China.

He writes -

"There is little whining here about Denmark having $10-a-gallon gasoline because of high energy taxes. The shaping of the market with high energy standards and taxes on fossil fuels by the Danish government has actually had 'a positive impact on job creation,' added Hedegaard. 'For example, the wind industry — it was nothing in the 1970s. Today, one-third of all terrestrial wind turbines in the world come from Denmark.' In the last 10 years, Denmark’s exports of energy efficiency products have tripled. Energy technology exports rose 8 percent in 2007 to more than $10.5 billion in 2006, compared with a 2 percent rise in 2007 for Danish exports as a whole."

"Frankly, when you compare how America has responded to the 1973 oil shock and how Denmark has responded, we look pathetic."

“'I have observed that in all other countries, including in America, people are complaining about how prices of [gasoline] are going up,' Denmark’s prime minister, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, told me. 'The cure is not to reduce the price, but, on the contrary, to raise it even higher to break our addiction to oil. We are going to introduce a new tax reform in the direction of even higher taxation on energy and the revenue generated on that will be used to cut taxes on personal income — so we will improve incentives to work and improve incentives to save energy and develop renewable energy.'"

"Because it was smart taxes and incentives that spurred Danish energy companies to innovate, Ditlev Engel, the president of Vestas — Denmark’s and the world’s biggest wind turbine company — told me that he simply can’t understand how the U.S. Congress could have just failed to extend the production tax credits for wind development in America."

"Why should you care?"

“We’ve had 35 new competitors coming out of China in the last 18 months,” said Engel, “and not one out of the U.S.”