Silencing the Voice Loop

A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose
Eckhart Tolle
Dutton, New York, NY 2005

One of the hot topics of this trimester’s Personal Leadership Development class has been ego, so I have been thinking a lot about how my ego is manifesting in my professional and personal life. Eckhart Tolle’s book A New Earth was either recommended by someone I met in the program, or could have been mentioned by one of the visiting speakers. I didn’t know that it focused on what Tolle calls egoic behavior at the time I picked it for one of my Personal Leadership Plan books. It is the perfect book for me to have read at this point in my life. It is the perfect book for me now. And now.

Tolle begins by recognizing and naming our inherited dysfunction: our collective mental illness, a veil of delusion. This delusion is that of suffering, or dukkha in Buddhism. Christians call it original sin. Tolle explains that in its original Greek, Sin means “to miss the point of human existence”, “to miss the mark, as an archer who misses the target”. The point of human existence is not to suffer, but to be who we are. We miss this mark when we feed our egoic behavior.

What Tolle proposes is that we have an opportunity now to have a “radical transformation of human consciousness”. This consciousness will help us to create a new Earth when we become aware and break free of the “triggers” that feed our egoic behavior. Triggers are the things that activate your ego and are caused when we identify with the “I”, the “Me” and the “Mine”. (That’s what George Harrison was talking about when he wrote that song way back in January of 1969: Paul McCartney’s ego.) By recognizing our egoic behavior we will begin to liberate and awaken ourselves, be Who We Are rather than who we think others want us to be. We will then silence the looping voices in our heads which keep us from living in the moment, and keep us suffering.

Tolle also shares with us his idea of the pain-body, our “accumulation of old emotional pain” that we carry with us in our energy field. Some of us are born with a “heavy” pain-body, some with a light one. The kind of pain-body you are born with doesn’t necessarily determine how much more pain you acquire in your pain-body over your lifetime. That comes from your experience as you grow, and whether you learn to face your pain in the present. Tolle explains how we can help our children reduce the amount of pain added to their pain-bodies as they grow, by teaching them to face their pain in the now. I can’t think of any better gift for a parent to be able to give your children!

I can already feel the difference that reading A New Earth has made in my life. I feel lighter and more able to accept the challenges in my life now. I am more aware of my egoic behavior, and that awareness deflates the power it has over me. I know this will be a constant challenge until I am able to be present and aware automatically, but Tolle says this will happen eventually. Until that time, I will practice being aware of my voice loop and the thoughts feeding my pain-body, and will endeavor to remember the feelings and thoughts that trigger it. And not take myself so seriously!

City Zoning circa 1979

City Zoning: The Once and Future Frontier
Clifford L. Weaver and Richard F. Babcock
Planners Press, Chicago IL 1979

I was pleasantly surprised by this book on city zoning policies and trends in the 1970s. I had believed it was going to be a very dull read. What soon became evident is that planners in the 1970s were the beneficiaries of the environmental movement of that same decade, who looked at the urban landscape as deserving of the same conservation efforts as the natural landscape.

Chapter 1 was of the most interest to me because it gave the clearest understanding of planning and zoning efforts of the period. It begins by asking the question: “For the last few decades, zoning has been the suburban toy, not a city tool. But is that state of affairs permanent?”(3). It discusses how the twin concerns of “degradation of the natural environment” and “affordable housing… have propelled the topic of public regulation of private land from a matter of limited interest to an issue of hot debate” (3). The authors suggest that zoning could become “a positive tool for change”, even though the trend in the recent past has been that “With rare exceptions, zoning has been neither a guiding, a controlling, nor an inhibiting factor in the development of the business and commercial centers of our major cities” (5).

The book goes into great detail regarding the effectiveness of neighborhood organizations. In this first chapter, and later in Chapter 14, the authors describe zoning as “accessible to the common folk; it is the one aspect of municipal government where citizen participation has long been mandatory”. The authors give two examples of this. The first details how the residents of a neighborhood in Chicago, after having developed a community land use master plan two years earlier, found themselves fighting McDonalds for the rights to a particularly desirable street corner. The alderman who represented the neighborhood and supported the residents, publicly thanked McDonalds for its local Ronald McDonald house which provided parents with a place to stay when their children were in the hospital. However, he goes on to say that the residents stand firmly against the fast food restaurant coming into their neighborhood. When all who agreed were asked to stand, the witnesses rose unanimously, and won the day.

The next example was of a Planned Parenthood which had received a permit to move into a neighborhood in St. Paul. The residents were so firmly against it that the city council “declared a moratorium on building permits for all abortion clinics” (183). This moratorium was eventually overturned “as that way lies the extinction of many liberties, which are, indeed, constitutionally guaranteed against invasion by a majority” (183).

Quite rightly, the authors point out that many land use problems “cannot be solved by the mere application of a new set of land use regulations… Reform of major federal programs, reform of local property tax laws, significant public expenditures on both social and physical infrastructures, fundamental redirection of transportation concepts, and… new approaches to the relationship between the public and private sectors” would help remedy the problems faced by the cities and suburbs of those times (14), but zoning remained a useful tool to protect historically, environmentally and aesthetically relevant areas.

Although this book is almost 30 years old, the language and concerns it discusses translate to today. In my work with city planners, placemakers and community builders I hear discussions about the same issues. I am beginning to believe that these issues and concerns will be with us for some time to come, unless we begin to find solutions to housing and environmental issues that incorporates all aspects of daily life into the design. I am very eager to begin reading books from the more recent past to see if we have begun to solve this puzzle.

Homo Reciprocans and Capitalism 3.0 -- Peter Barnes' Atmospheric Trust

In neo-classical economics, the selfish and self-absorbed behavior demonstrated in a capitalist society is termed homo economicus, or economic man. Samuel Bowles, Professor of Economics at the University of Sienna, defines the more realistic portrayal of the participant who comes to negotiations prepared to cooperate with others who negotiate in good faith, and retaliate on those who do not, as homo reciprocans. In Chapters 5 and 6 of Barnes’ Capitalism 3.0 he offers the first two of four solutions to upgrading the economy from version 2.0, taking into account the more realistic description of economic behavior of homo reciprocans. Barnes’ offers the Commons, our shared inheritance of natural and social capital and ecosystem services as the pool that homo reciprocans draws from.

Barnes’ first solution to capitalism version 2.0 is to address the overwhelming power the corporate world currently holds over natural and social capital, and ecosystem services. Barnes estimates that the common wealth of our nation, the air, water, habitats, ecosystems, science, technologies, social and political systems, language and culture cannot possibly be valued because most of it is invisible. Invisibility has led the value of these services to become external to the market, meaning that the degradation and loss of the future value of these assets is not computed into the real cost of these assets. Because we do not realize the real cost of these assets, we have allowed the corporate world (CW) to effectively take ownership of them. The CW, therefore, has benefited from the wealth gained in exploiting these assets with no responsibility to protect them, no consequences to destroying them. This public wealth, as Barnes’ calls it, is benefiting private business and results in no compensation being distributed to the owners of the commons: us.

Barnes’ suggests we expand common property rights to include more than municipally- or non-governmental entity-owned easements held in perpetual trust. He suggests that by creating a commons sector, the public can take back the commons. The commons sector would be managed by a set of non-political institutions, each specific to a particular asset, whose mission is to protect that capital, location or asset in a way that limits exploitation by the private sector, maximizes pubic access and preserves it for future generations. Income rights and usage rights will generate income that can be distributed using the one person, one share principle exemplified in the democratic process. The state will help to maintain the newly achieved balance of power by establishing a market where the private sector and the common sector constrain each other.

Another solution proposed by Barnes’ to create a balance of power between the private sector and the common sector is to create a “commons rent recycling program” through trusts, which he calls the Trustreeship of Creation. His suggestion is to create a commons trust that collects rent from everyone according to their commons use, and then distributes dividends to everyone according to their commons ownership. What Barnes’ calls the “macroeconomic phenomenon” that results is that, as pollution decreases the income to all citizens increases, because commons rent goes up as commons value increases. This creates a trustee relationship contributed to by all citizens which benefits future generations in every part of society. The balance of power inherent in this shared trusteeship would be the best way to reduce poverty, because people not able to make a living due to lack of education or opportunity would still benefit from their commonwealth dividends.

Commons usage levels would be set by the managing board of the trust. Pollution permits would be sold based on the amount of commonwealth preserved or protected. The government would assign the initial pollution rights. The revenue generated by the sale of permits (rental revenue) would be divided between the beneficiaries (us) and the direct preservation of public goods, such as ecosystem services.

Many may wonder how all political or corporate influence could be kept out of managing the conflict between current and future generations. The answer is that there is no absolute way to guarantee this. Full transparency will need to be incorporated into the trusts’ charter. The managing board must be held accountable according to strict conflict-of-interest rules, as managers of private sector corporations are now accountable to their fiduciary beneficiaries. The trusts’ beneficiaries are powerless and voiceless because they exist in the future. By shielding the trust from the private sector, Barnes’ plan resolves the imbalance of power inherent in our current economic system, and offers a more realistic economic system suitable for homo reciprocans.

Energy Market Manipulation Letter to the Editor, Conway Daily Sun

Dear Editor,

I would like to respond to Mr. Nash's letter regarding Congress' ability to lower consumer gas prices. This topic has been concerning me since the 3^rd of June, when I watched the hearings on the manipulation of energy markets available for viewing on CSPAN. I, like most others, had believed that the combination of peak oil and the windfall profits being made by oil companies is causing the sharp rise in gas, diesel and oil prices, affecting everything from transportation to food production. After watching the hearing, which featured testimony by energy market experts, I understand that it is the unregulated futures market which is driving up the price of oil.

At an earlier hearing, an executive from Exxon Mobil testified under oath that the price of oil should be $50 to $55 per barrel based on supply and demand fundamentals. In October 2007 the CEO of Marathon Oil, Clarence Cazalot Jr. said, "$100 oil isn't justified by the physical demand in the market". "It has to be speculation on the futures market that is fueling this." Enron played this game with the electricity market in California and an oil company named Amaranth played it with natural gas.

Goldman Sachs and other investment firms are playing this game now. When Goldman Sachs' energy strategist Argun Murti predicted that oil would rise to more than $200 per barrel before the end of the year, he was not demonstrating his talent for clairvoyance. As much as 60% of today's crude oil price is pure speculation driven by large trader banks like Goldman Sachs, and hedge funds. Companies are bidding up the price of oil to create profits. At the hearing on the 3^rd of June, Michael Greenberger, Former Director of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) testified that legislation passed in 2000 created an atmosphere of unrestrained trading where speculators influence oil and crude prices. In the middle of the night, right before leaving for Christmas break, Senator Phil Graham introduced the "Enron Loophole" legislation designed to allow unregulated speculation of oil markets. During a separate interview on CSPAN, Mr. Greenberger goes so far as to say that it is the traders from Enron actually working in the futures market doing these trades. There must be limits to what they are allowed to do. If the Justice Department were to begin an investigation tomorrow, Mr. Greenberger says prices would drop immediately.

Geopolitical factors are no worse now than they were a year ago and demand has changed little. Crude oil inventories are actually up. No matter how much supply enters this market, speculators have created an environment where we can drill and drill, OPEC can release oil, and prices will still go up. That is why OPEC refuses to increase supply to us. The OPEC secretary-general Abdalla Salem El-Badri blames speculators for the rise in oil prices which have "stripped his cartel of control over the global cost of fuel" (International Herald Tribune, May 22, 2008). Call your representatives and tell them you want to have the CFTC regulate the energy market.

Anyone interested in learning more about this should go to CSPAN.org and watch any of the videos featuring Mr. Greenberger. Call your representatives and tell them you want to have the CFTC regulate the energy market.

Cimbria Badenhausen
Chocorua, NH

Review of Wildlife Visionaries by Jim Dale Vickery

Wilderness Visionaries: Robert Marshall, John Muir, Sigurd F. Olson, Calvin Rutstrum, Robert Service, Henry David Thoreau

By Jim Dale Vickery

The term land use planning is commonly used to describe urban or suburban planning on a local or regional scale. The original conservationists, men like Thoreau, Muir and Marshall, used it on a national scale. Wilderness Visionaries allows us the chance to share the experiences of these men, all accomplished authors who used the spoken word to promote the protection of natural resources. As each passed the torch to the next the amount of land preserved for its intrinsic value, for nature’s sake, and for the sake of future generations increased. Each visionary spoke his message in the language of his generation. As the world gradually became more mechanized, population bases became more centralized and the wild areas became “civilized”, each reminded us to listen for the call of the wild.

I approached this book with some knowledge of John Muir and Henry David Thoreau, but the other visionaries' stories were unknown to me. I enjoyed very much Mr. Vickery’s voice, and the way he followed the evolution of wilderness preservation as it progressed from Henry David Thoreau’s time in the early 1800s through Sigurd F. Olson’s death in the late twentieth century.

Vickery chose to write about these particular men because of their influence on his life as a Minnesotan who loved nature, and their monumental impact on the conservation and preservation movements in the United States and in Canada. All six explored parts of the Minnesota wilderness at one time or another. Vickery began researching this book in the 70s. Over the next 15 years he canoed and hiked many of the routes these wilderness pioneers followed to better understand the forces that formed their visions.

While I admire all six visionaries, I will focus on Thoreau, Muir and Marshall because they most advanced land use planning in the U.S. Henry David Thoreau was born in 1817 in Concord, Massachusetts. Wilderness preservation and land use planning weren’t concerns in Thoreau’s time because people lived closer to nature, and there was enough land for all. Private property wasn’t as restricted as it is now. For instance, when Thoreau built his little (10' x 15') house on Walden Pond he was actually squatting on the poet Ralph Waldo Emerson’s farm. The land was there and Thoreau made good use of it. Emerson and he became fast friends until death separated them.

Thoreau is the first to speak to audiences both of his time and succeeding generations of the wild areas, their importance to humans and their "intangible" value. He believed “In wildness is the preservation of the world” (2). His message of conservation and preservation was picked up by the other visionaries as the importance of land use planning became better understood. John Muir and Thoreau never met, but the younger man was as committed to preservation as Thoreau ever was.

John Muir emigrated to the U.S. from Scotland in 1849 to homestead a farm with his father. Muir was a child of the 19^th century. When he came of age he roamed at will, taking jobs when necessary and exploring the wilderness whenever possible. The land was becoming more industrialized, and Muir was sick about it. His beloved sequoias were being harvested at an alarming rate. Too big to saw, they were dynamited, which created a tremendous amount of waste. “What happened in America’s East, the logging, plowing, mining and developing, now knocked on the door of the Pacific Coast, where some of the continent’s last forest sanctuaries soughed in eternal winds”(78).

As one of the founders and as the first president of the Sierra Club (until his death) Muir worked to preserve the sequoias by pushing to create the forest service. He especially worked to end grazing rights on public land. Muir believed that with “institutionalized stewardship” forests would be protected and preserved so they could be saved for future generations, and for their own sake. He was only partially rewarded when Congress passed the Forest Management Act of 1897. Instead of fully protecting forests, the act allowed “the nation to be furnished with a continuous supply of lumber” (91). John Muir would have been very pleased with the continued efforts of Robert (Bob) Marshall to preserve the wilderness of North America.

Bob Marshall only lived to the age of thirty-eight, but many say that by the time he died in 1939 he had done “as much, if not more than, any American to sound the alarm against inroads on our wilderness and to promote long-range scientific programs for its preservation” (129). Independently wealthy, Marshall was the primary financial supporter of the Wilderness Society, leaving it one quarter of his estate upon his death. As a founding member of its board of directors, and as the Director of Forestry of the Office of Indian Affairs (precursor to the Bureau of Indian Affairs), Marshall recognized that “As society becomes more and more mechanized, it will be more and more difficult for many people to stand the nervous strain, the high pressure, and the drabness of their lives” (142). Marshall worked tirelessly so that wilderness would be available for people to enjoy by “cutting all bonds of habit and drifting into the timeless continuity of the primeval” (143). By planning how the land was used, Marshall hoped to save it.

These visionaries were similar in many ways: they loved nature and the wilderness, they wrote prolifically and poetically to the audiences of their times about land use, and their words continue to inspire us to find ways to preserve nature for its own sake. These fathers of land conservation and preservation recognized the importance of keeping the wilderness experience in our daily lives. Their wisdom and vision lives on in their words, there for any of us who would listen, and act.

Vickery, Jim D. Wilderness Visionaries. Merrillville, IN: ICS Books, Inc., 1986.

Climate Change and Water

For our Exploring Sustainability course we were charged with reviewing a work relating to our chosen ambit. I chose water management issues for my ambit, and for this assignment I chose a documentary I found on www.videos.google.com entitled:

Global Warming:Change Begins With Learning - Four Part Series - Global Warming: Science and Society, Climate Change and Water, Rights and Runoff,Program Four featuring the Donald Bren Distinguished Professor of Corporate Environmental Manangement Dr. Gary Libecap, and Professor of Hydrology Dr. Christina Tague, moderated by Jon Clark from the CEC
Produced by the University of California Santa Barbara Donald Bren School of Environmental Science and Management the Community Environmental Council (CEC) February 12, 2007

I would imagine that some may find this documentary to be a little dry (no pun intended), but I found it very interesting. I guess I must be used to it, after watching the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation I’m eager to see how other states are handling water management issues. California has some tough times ahead of it, because its water rights are so intermingled with those of the Pacific North Western states, Arizona and Nevada.

It was not so long ago that water management was controlled locally. It is only in the last hundred years or so that water use has moved from a rural concentration to an urban concentration. With the advent of running water, the demand increased both in urban environments and in rural ones.

Global warming is being manifested in many different ways, which is affecting natural capital with changes in ecosystem services, biodiversity and water availability. These changes are having effects on all aspects of the environment. The media is bringing a lot more attention to this growing change in our planet’s ecology and we all wonder what this will mean in the future? It is this question that Climate Change and Water seeks to answer.

As the planet heats up, the hydrologic cycle is affected. Snow melts, glaciers melt, ocean levels rise. There will be a change in the seasons, with a change in when water is available to plants and animals. Species that have depended on and adjusted to a certain schedule will now find that they are off just enough to make life difficult for them. In California, plants are dependant on lots of water in the spring with late summer droughts. If there is a shortage of snow, or if the snows melt too early, there will be less water in August, and that will affect both plants and animals.

The ecosystems will be able to respond if we give them room. We have to accept that we no longer have a static climate, and adjust accordingly. One of the first things we need to address is food production. The agricultural areas in California have a choice of whether to sell their excess water downriver, and are doing that now, because they have enough. There are even some farmers letting fields lie fallow because it is more lucrative to sell the water than the produce. We've grown up in a society of abundance and now must rethink water management practices. We need to decide whose needs are best served by management practices. We will need to learn to grow food in urban landscapes (Don's urban farming!)
We need to put a dollar amount on natural capital, allowing that it is a valuable resource in its own right, taking into account its Total Economic Value. Urban centers actually don't use tremendous amounts of water in a hedonistic manner, as is thought. The cost to water in urban areas is actually what they're putting in the water, the damage they do to the ecosystem services.

The next steps, according to Professor Tangue and Professor Libecap are to look at watersheds as being much larger than we currently do. We need to look at regional management, not on the micro level. Water managers need to be trained in all aspects of water managers, not in specialties, as they are now. Water markets need to be developed, like the one in Chili. And we must begin to consider the total economic value of water. We can't afford not to. It is the gold of the 21st century, and if we can learn to manage water, we might actually learn how to heal this beautiful world.

Audio/Video/Blogs as Information Sources

In answer to an assignment from our Communication/Persuasion/Negotiation professor Bill Baue, I chose to analyze 3 podcasts posted by NPR: Climate Connection. This series is a terrific resource for people who love NPR and want to keep pace with current climate studies and projects. Podcasts are convenient and easily shared, but they have their limitations.

The pocasts I chase to listen to were:

Food & Climate: A Complicated but Optimistic View
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=15747012
All of these stories originated on radio, so they carry the limitations of radio programs. One reason I love NPR though, is becasue I feel like I'm listening to a discussion happening just out of earshot. It's almost like if I step around a pillar I'll be able to see what they're talking about. Of course, when I really do want to see what they're looking at - I can't! That can be frustrating. Global food production and how it will be impacted by climate change is an important part of planning for a future with global warming as a central issue.

The interview with the guest took place with the sound of her discribing her work at NASA and crop models. We didn't miss anything in this podcast of a radio show that we needed to see to understand the story, which talked about Canada being able to grow agriculture while third world countries get too hot to produce food.

Hawaii Couple Reestablishes Ancient Plant Species
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=17774504

This story is quite different. It's title immediately made me want to be able to view the topic of discussion: an ancient plant in Hawaii being established on the island where "urasic Park" was filmed Kawaii. The introduction designs a beautiful cave we're just dying to see. We can hear the birds, the breeze in the trees, but we can't see the cave or share the experience of the couple as they trail a set of footprints down a beach. It's clear, it's interesting, but it's limited to what they can communicate through sound.

and;

Crucial California Delta Faces a Salty Future
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=18031391

This story talked about a delta and the failures of levies and peripheral canals. Flooding is a huge concern, and so is the availability of fresh water.

NPR does try to suplement the minimal visual satisfaction of radio by offering interactive sections of the page where you would access the podcast. They also have videos, slideshows, pictures and links to additional information. They do their best to satisfy our craving for visual information. These are the limits of radio. They still provide ease-of-use, convenience, and the ability to replay stories that you enjoy or want to share with others. Radio has it's limitations, but it adaquetly serves my curious nature and need to know.

Water In a Sustainable Economy: State of the World 2008

State of the World 2008 Page 112
Valuing Water for Sustainability

“The Value of water as a resource that underpins economic activities is evident in all economies, but it is much less evident in economic statistics… Prices virtually never reflect water’s full value or the need for conservation.”

This quote is from the 25th anniversary publication of State of the World (2008)printed by The Worldwatch Institute. It's an invigorating and eye-opening read for anyone concerned about sustainability issues. This book was assigned to us in our Exploring Sustainability class by Professor Ralph Meima, who is also our ES professor.

I had thought that this book was going to be a dry read, but after picking it up I’m having a tough time putting it down. Most intriguing to me are the statements about the economic value of water. “Unlike other inputs that are sold in competitive markets, this price is generally far less than water’s real economic value, and often even less than the cost of supplying it.” The book goes on to say that the producers and policymakers have an unrealistic view of the value of water, and are therefore not knowledgeable about whether current practices are wasting or overvaluing water. In addition, “investment in manufacturing capital, such as a water treatment plant or a dam, is reflected as an increase in a country’s wealth, investments in “natural assets” such as wetlands, watersheds, or groundwater aquifers are not included at all, even if they serve equivalent functions, as produced capital”.

It's encouraging to know that people are aware of this (other than our cohort!), and that they working to create change. Serious problems are developing upriver from Arizona and Nevada, with farmers having to let fields lie fallow so that Las Vegas Casinos can bathe tourists and water landscapes. This in a time when reliable clean water sources are declining all over the world, in both developing countries (Africa) and world powers (our own United States).

Total Economic Value (TEV) is the “recognized means of capturing both the market values (those that can be observed through market trades) and the nonmarket values of natural resources”. This is a concept being used to bring attention to the value of water and other natural capital. The TEVs include Use Values and Non-Use Values.

There are three kinds of Use Values: Direct Use Value, Indirect Use Value, and Option Value. Direct Use Values are “goods that can be extracted, consumed or enjoyed directly, such as hydropower and drinking water. Indirect Use Values include current ecosystem services, such as flood control and water purification. Option Values are the values provided by using the ecosystem services at a later date, including “services that appear to have a low value now but could have a much higher value in the future because of innovations in management or new information”.

Non-Use Values are those that “derive from the benefits that ecosystems may provide that do not involve using them in any way” and include Bequest Value and Existence Value. The acceptance of these values will be the key to a resonant appreciation of the value of water. Bequest Values are the value that comes from “the desire to pass on ecosystems to future generations". Existence Value is the value of natural capital that comes from knowing that resource will be there even if we never experience it, such as blue whales in the oceans, or the Amazon River.

Understanding the TEV of water and implementing integrated water management into daily living is the key to maintaining water supplies that can continue to be used as natural capital. I still have to finish The State of the World 2008. There is a whole section on water resource management innovations I'm looking forward to reading soon, and discussing with you at a later date. Until then, save your rainwater, and please fix that leaky faucet!

The Business of Biomimicry

In the American Heritage Dictionary, capitalism is defined as, “An economic system in which the means of production and distribution are privately or corporately owned and development is proportionate to the accumulation and reinvestment of profits gained in a free market”. The term natural capitalism takes that one step further, incorporating a waste- reduction production system as the “production” part of the definition, reinvestment in the natural resources necessary for production and a holistic system view as opposed to a segmented system view.

The four elements of natural capitalism include:

1. Increase productivity using natural resource
2. A shift to bilogically inspired production models (also called biomimicry)
3. A move to a solution-based business model
4. Reinvestment in natural resources and process

The importance of natural capitalism is that it allows human beings to return to a more naturally inspired form of production, distribution and waste disposal. In the last year I have become aware of the biomimicry movement, and I see natural capitalism as business’ way of mimicking nature. Biomimicry is defined by the

Biomimicry Institute as: “(from bios, meaning life, and mimesis, meaning to imitate)… a new science that studies nature’s best ideas and then imitates these designs and processes to solve human problems”. For example, a bird finds and eats a fruit or seed, such as poison ivy. They then process the fruity part of the seed and deposit the seed in their excrement. That new seed produces a new poison ivy plant and the process is continued. If businesses incorporate natural capitalism, they will find a resource (fruit or seed), process and distribute that resource (seed) and use the waste to produce more of their product, or a different product.

The flora and fauna on this earth that survive do so because they are required to live by certain rules. They do not have the intellectual ability to develop different methods of survival than what is offered by nature. We, as humans, are able to develop methods of survival that over-rule those dictated by nature. By developing these methods, we have damaged natural habitats and resources that are necessary for our very survival. These are short-term solutions, not long-term solutions, and they're not good business practice. Natural capitalism as a business philosophy will allow us to work in concert with nature, using production methods in harmony with the earth and its ecosystems and habitats.

Ecosystems is the term used to describe the regulation systems of habitats that we and all other natural creatures live in. Biodiversity in habitats, meaning allowing many diverse life forms to live in a certain habitat, subject to a particular ecosystem, is important because we are all interdependent. It may seem strange that we are dependent on the number of earth worms in our soil, but the growth of the number of earth worms in our north-eastern forests could be damaging our deciduous tree species, which in turn will hurt the deer, mice, birds and us, because they process CO2 in our atmosphere. North-eastern forest habitats haven’t included earthworms since the glacial period, when they all died. The earthworms you see in the forests and even in your own garden have come from Europe and the Far East in plants and planting material. The forest ecosystem is being changed by the exponential growth of earthworms, because they are eating through the leaf mold faster than the trees are used to, and they are creating a new soil composition that these ancient forests are not used to. The ecosystem has been disturbed and will now have to evolve and survive or devolve and die.

In considering ecosystems services in relation to the business world, let us think about water, the great solvent, and its use in businesses. Water use is critical for many businesses, even if only because it is used in waste removal, or employee services. Water is taken as a natural resource away from ecosystems and returned to the same or another ecosystem as a waste product. If that waste product is returned to the ecosystem in a way that damages that ecosystem, you have just eliminated that resource until it has cycled that water through a natural filtration system and made it usable again. If we, as a business, cycle that water through a filtration system using biomimicry, then store that water or release it back into the ecosystem, we have eliminated one instance of damaging a resource, and improved our production model by creating a closed-loop system. Ecosystem services can only continue to exist if we are mindful of our role in preserving them.

Natural capital and ecosystem services have always been a part of the earth’s production processes. They’ve been used by flora and fauna since the beginning of time. It is only now that we as humans are awakening to the importance and ingenuity of these processes, and it is to our great benefit to do so as quickly as we can.

Hasbro Susty Report/Shareholder Resolution

In the October 2007 issue of Toxic Chemicals in Products, the Newsletter of the Investor Environmental Health Network, the newsletter celebrated the "Impressive Results from Shareholder Resolutions", including news about the "45% [44.8%] vote on a resolution at Hasbro focusing on PVC (polyvinly chloride) and requesting a sustainability report was the highlight of the successful 2007 proxy season for IEHN resolutions... the second highest vote on record for a sustainability report resolution opposed by corporate mangement." From what Bill was saying during our first intensive, this seemed like a very successful voting percentage, so I decided to look into this further. Toxins in toys is a very hot topic right now, with all the news about lead in Chinese toys made for Hasbro and other companies. (SEC Listing)
I went and looked for the Sustainability Report request and found a copy of it filed in Shareholder Resolutions under Hasbro - Sustainability Report. The request included language stating proposed grounds for the report was that "investors increasingly seek disclosure of companies' social and environmental practices in the belief they impact shareholder value". I found myself asking who instigated this campaign? How did they engage Hasbro? On CSRWire.com I found out that a group of catholic nuns, the Domincan Sisters of Adrian, Michigan, worked with the Portfolio Advisory Board, and the Camilla Madden Charitable Trust (CMCT) to convice shareholders to engage with the Board of Trustees at Hasbro, Inc. "Speaking for the resolution filers, Margaret Weber, coordinator of Corporate Responsibility for the Adrian Dominican Sisters in Adrian, Michigan, and also a representative for the Camilla Madden Charitable Trust, commented, "The high vote for this proposal from shareholders indicates that Hasbro needs to meet the standard for accountability on sustainability issues and also that shareholders understand the potential liabilities with continued use of PVC in children’s toys."
Finally, I went to the Hasbro corporate site, to their social responsibility section. There they talk about product safety, sustainable practices, the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and recycling policies, they don't discuss this particular shareholder resolution. It would be great to find a little more info on how the filers devised their plan of attack and what their mode of communication was. If anyone can learn any additional information, I'd be interested in sharing it.

Comm of Water Mgmnt Issues

There are two important aspects to water management. These are the management of clean water resources and the management of stormwater runoff and flooding. Water management is already a major issue, and will continue to be in the coming years. According to two separate articles written by “a prominent group of hydrologists and climatologists” published in the latest issue of the magazine Science, as documented on the World Business Council for Sustainable Development website, “up to 60 percent of the climate-related trends of river flow, winter air temperature and snow pack… from 1950-1999 are due to human-caused climate change from greenhouse gases and aerosols.” “New models must be used to prepare for floods or droughts, determine the size of water reservoirs and decide how to allocate for residential, industrial and agricultural uses.”

As seen in an article from a local newspaper website, “The Daily Evergreen” published in Washington State, these new models are being developed by state, county and municipal governments in an effort to solve water management problems at the local level. In Evergreen, WA, as was true in Westchester County, New York, where I worked in the county government conservation department, local governments are responding to the U.S. EPA requirements for creating new ways to manage stormwater runoff. These “Phase II” requirements are spurring municipal leaders to reexamine runoff through sheeting from impervious surfaces and from roofs, which introduce toxins into groundwater resources, rivers and streams.

New models are also being created in countries such as South Africa and Spain which have recognized the problems that water scarcity is causing locally and country-wide. As seen on Treehugger.com, “…a growing number of Spanish farmers have decided to sign onto an ambitious digital initiative linking up their fields to a national grid controlled from Madrid. Its main purpose, of course, would be to conserve water and costs – authorities estimate the new irrigation system could save 20% of the water Spain currently uses, or close to 1.3 trillion gallons every year.”

The Environmental Leader site discussed the results of the Chartered Institution of Water and Environmental Management (CIWEM) report from the UK, describing how industry will need to find ways to reuse water if they want to operate sustainibly. In Southern Africa, the feeling is "We need to be more proactive instead of being reactive. Government participation is crucial. Unfortunately, many authorities tend to treat water as a non-priority. The development of water infrastructure has, for instance, fallen behind in many regions in Southern Africa."

I was pleased to find so much information about new models for water management, and from such diverse sources. The sites seemed to concentrate on facts, documenting studies made by independent scientists. Where the discussions are about governments, there is a call for more information and collaboration.
http://www.wbcsd.org/plugins/DocSearch/details.asp?type=DocDet&ObjectId=MjgzMzA
http://www.dailyevergreen.com/story/24494
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2007/11/water_management_digital.php
http://www.environmentalleader.com/2008/01/04/industrial-water-reuse-key-to-sustainability/
http://allafrica.com/stories/200712010044.html

Organiz'l Mngmnt Discussion Topic 1

For my first article and topic of discussion I have chosen to refer to a blog hosted by Dr. Marshall Goldsmith entitled "Ask the Coach". Dr. Goldsmith's profile in the Discussion Leaders section of the Harvard Business Review web site describes him as "a world authority in helping successful leaders achieve positive, lasting change in behavior."

In the article When Should You Keep Your Ideas to Yourself? (January 21, 2008 1:07 p.m.), the author discusses the propensity for "technically and intellectually gifted managers" to want to revise good ideas and make them their own. Dr. Goldsmith describes one of the reasons managers tend to add value to an idea is based on their need to "prove to the world how smart we really are". He suggests that, in doing this, the manager has just reduced the staff member's connection and commitment to the idea and that the ownership of the idea has just moved to the manager. He suggests that to cease this behavior it is best to follow this formula:
1.) Ask if the idea has value and merit as it is;
2) Decide whether your contribution will increase that value; and
3) If the increased value is worth reducing the staff member's commitment to the idea.
Your reception of the idea and subsequent behavior should then proceed accordingly.

There were more than 10 comments contributed by business professionals at various levels of the food chain. These comments offered a number of valid points of view. One gentleman suggested that culture plays a role in this discussion, which I am sure is correct. Another person suggested that everyone carry a journal with them and list their ideas as they happen. Then, during a group meeting, ideas would be expressed to all at the same time. AK Hand, President of Centaur Pharmaceuticals noted that if the idea is original and could be patented, great care should be taken regarding where and when an idea is suggested.

All of these are valid points, as I say. A free exchange of ideas is the goal of any organization. The managers have an opportunity to foster positive change that benefits all parties involved and also benefits the bottom line. Staff have an opportunity to show their stuff, and feel valiated by being part of a successful team. The teams are motivated by high moral. Everyone wins.

As is probably true of most people, I have been on the receiving end of this type of behavior. It was not a rewarding experience, but it taught me a lot about what kind of leader or team member I will aspire to be. Just after I created a very successful conference series, leadership at various levels both inside my organization and from partnerships outside the organization proceeded to take credit for the original idea and the success of the program. Eventually a press person from a local newspaper became very enamored of the series and our role in educating the public. In conversation with my superiors, and in front of witnesses, he complimented me for the origination of the idea. Though others still try to take credit for the conception of the series many years after it's inception, someone with personal knowledge usually steps in to correct the record. Now, when I have an idea, I am very careful about documenting the presentation of the idea, and to whom I offer it.

I am very clear about giving credit where credit is due. I have come up with some very good ideas and will continue to do so. I hope the people I share them with have respect for me and will offer their improvements, so that the best possible version will be acted up, and hopefully I will get the deserved amount of credit. http://discussionleader.hbsp.com/goldsmith/2008/01/tips_for_managing_smart_people.html

Greening the Girl

My journey leading to an MBA in Managing for Sustainability began with my Mother, Cintra Badenhausen, a woman dedicated to teaching her children and others about the outdoors and canoeing. An avid Girl Scout leader , she instilled in us the wonder and joy of camping in winter, gliding across a lake and, for me, the special feeling of friendships with horses. I remained close to Nature through environmental volunteerism and Master Gardener training in rural Idaho. My journey next lead me to a position with an umbrella organization which supported environmental non-profits in my native NY, and from there to a position supporting naturalists in a conservation division of the county Parks Department. Here I led the creation of a conference series entitled "Conversations on Conservation"in 2003 which successfully created collaboration of resources between e-non-profits, and which is still presenting conservation education programs to the community.

In 2006 I started Blue Sky Design, which has now morphed into Blue Sky Environmental Strategies, a consulting firm which specializes what I call "Community Marketing". I make sustainable connections between businesses and non-profits to support social responsibiity, specializing in support of environmental non-profits. My clients are diverse in market but united by the desire to do good while doing well.

The MBA program I am enrolled in is at The Graduate Center at Marlboro College, in Brattleboro VT. Our cohort, the first of the program, is quite an ecclectic bunch. We include a Budhist Monk Bartender, a Statistician, an employee of Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Plant, and the Sustainability Coordinator of UTC. Our personal and professional histories offer an comprehensive amount of experience in personal and professional social responsibility, and in business practices. The faculty is dedicated and innovative. The staff is professional and imaginative in creating a supportive space for us to excel. I'm looking forward to where this chapter of my life will lead.