FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2010
End of Week Round-Up
Several items to share from the last few days: two speeches that Bob gave at the end of last year are now available and we present a short list of articles that Bob is reading now. (more…)

Important study led by our Advisory Board member Dr. Steven Waddell, in which I also participated.  Dr. Waddelll continues  with this study, and we will report on his progress. “  -  Hazel Henderson, Ed

February 10, 2010

If you were given 10 million euros and three to five years, how would you go about “changing the role of the financial system to better serve economic, social and environmental objectives”?  The EU is asking that question.  And that’s something that I’ve been answering with a consortium of more that 20 European universities. Our proposal went in last week.

For me, all this builds on the work of the Global Finance Initiative that I led.  Scaling Impact’s Sanjeev Khagram and I were convinced of the need for a multi-stakeholder Global Action Network (GAN) in the global finance arena that would take on the very issue the EU is asking with an EU focus.  Starting in January 2008 – just before the financial crisis and with $185,000 from Ford Foundation – we analyzed the global financial arena by further developing mapping methodologies and putting together a stewardship team that came up with a clear action strategy.

But we couldn’t get money for the next phase…because the financial crisis shrank foundations’ budgets and visions!

One exciting aspect about the EU Call is that they clearly want what I’d call a societal learning and change strategy…

FULL ARTICLE CONTINUED: FINANCIAL CRISIS AS A LARGE SYSTEM CHANGE CHALLENGE

Health care is complex, Mr. President. No country on this planet has completely figured it out. Click here for the rest of the article (PDF).

Robert A. G. Monks is one of the world’s pre-eminent experts on corporate governance. We are also proud that Bob is a member of Ethical Markets Media’s Advisory Board. – Hazel Henderson, – Ed.

There has been a lot of very interesting press on the Citizens United decision recently. It’s all the more interesting if we look back to September when SCOTUS reheard the case but there was much less media coverage. It has us scratching our heads a bit that there’s so much more discussion now that the case is over. So, it seems like a good time to resurrect Bob’s essay with Peter Murray.

Edgar Cahn, Jan. 16, 2009

Edgar Cahn is a member of the Ethical Markets Advisory Board in the area of Socially Responsible Investing.

If ever there was a time when Time Banking and other local currencies make sense, it is now, to rebuild Haiti. Haiti needs to find a way to do two things: (more…)

by Duane Elgin, a distinguished member of the Ethical Markets Media Advisory Board

Greetings and Happy New Year!  As we enter this new decade, and encounter both personal and collective challenges and opportunities, I recognize that reflection, learning, and community are more important than ever.  So I am starting off this new decade with a tele-course called Beacons of Hope.  Imagine it as a global learning network connecting our hearts and minds. Read more…

Video: Duane on Speaking Engagements

John Vasconcellos
July 2009

CHAPTER 1

Recognizing the devastation impending for my beloved California and its people, my conscience no longer permits me to remain silent regarding what accounts for our current budget crisis.

I was recently hospitalized with a life-threatening illness that it took doctors several days to accurately diagnose. Until they fully understood the problem — which turned out to be an antibiotic-resistant staph infection — they couldn’t prescribe the medication that would cure me. ??The experience got me thinking about California.

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Posted: 13 Dec 2009 07:02 AM PST
This post, by guest blogger Mindy S. Lubber, President, Ceres, was first published here.

So why are Nike, Johnson Controls and Sempra Energy sending top execs to Copenhagen to monitor the international climate talks. Read more…

Number 147, 30 November 2009

We are happy to announce the return of Focus on Trade. Over the next weeks we will bring you up-to-date reports and analysis from the WTO ministerial in Geneva, the Copenhagen climate talks, and places in-between and beyond. To kick things off, this issue marks the tenth anniversary of the “Battle of Seattle” with a series of reflections on where we are, what we have achieved, and the meaning and lessons of Seattle for the global justice movement and for Copenhagen.

IN THIS ISSUE
The Meaning of Seattle: Truth Only Becomes True Through Action
Walden Bello

From climate denialism to activist alliances in memory of Seattle November, 30 2009
Patrick Bond

Learning How to Count to 350: Remembering People Power in Seattle in 1999 and Berlin in 1989
Rebecca Solnit

Ten Years After Seattle, One Strategy, Better Two, For the Movement Against War and Capitalism
Franco “Bifo” Berardi

Get thee to Copenhagen! (because there is no redemption in a monastery)
Nicola Bullard

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“Other News” is a personal initiative seeking to provide information that should be in the media but is not, because of commercial criteria. It welcomes contributions from everybody. Work areas include information on global issues, north-south relations, governance of globalization. The “Other News” motto is a phrase which appeared on the wall of Barcelona’s old Customs Office, at the beginning of 2003: “What walls utter, media keeps silent”. Roberto Savio
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//Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited, article sent for information purposes.//

By  Maurice Strong (*)

BEIJING, (IPS)  The current economic and climate change crises are both rooted in the unsustainable nature of the existing economic system. The rapid and unexpected economic meltdown, which began in the United States and quickly spread throughout the world demonstrated dramatically that the phenomenon of globalization and interdependence has a dramatic downside of shared risks and vulnerability. (more…)

Nikos Avlonas
President, Centre for Sustainability and Excellence North America
www.csenorthamerica.org

In a few weeks, representatives from around the world will convene in Copenhagen,
under the auspices of the United Nations, to focus on a new international agreement
on climate change. This is a very important moment for the world. Read more…

by Pamela Olsen, J.D, M.S., Advisory Board Member, Ethical Markets Media

The Social Venture Network Conferences never cease to be inspiring, thought provoking and just plain wonderful! The 2009 series of spring and fall conferences were of course no exception. We find ourselves in a world that is truly reaching the “tipping point” where change is both inevitable and necessary, whether considering Wall Street, our economic structure, business, or health and welfare of our human family. A few conferences ago, while the attendees knew change needed to happen in all sectors of our economy and societal structures, a sense of urgency was less apparent compared with today’s widespread public attention. (more…)

Posted October 27, 2009

Cândido Grzybowski
Sociologist, director of Ibase

The climate crisis is the most evident, immediate and threatening consequence of the productionist, consumerist industrial model that underpins our economy and the way we live life. (more…)

Steve Viederman, past president of the Jessie Smith Noyes Foundation, is a member of the Ethical Markets Research Advisory Board in the area of Sustainability/Renewable Resource Sectors.

From: Robert Forrant and Linda Silk, editors. Inside and Out: Universities and Education and Sustainability, Baywood Publishing, 2006. Pps. 17-28

The obscure takes a while to see, the obvious, longer.

Anonymous

Going to a conference away from home is an exercise in unsustainability. The trip to and from the airport usually requires a car or taxi ride, single occupancy. The flight contributes to global warming, and is a microcosm of class structure: first, business and economy. The crowded highways traversed are multi-lane, having devoured green space and fertile farmland. Often they are lined with factories or the headquarters of corporations responsible for the manufacturing of the “excessities” that symbolize our modern age, and the billboards that urge us to buy more. And these ‘excessities” are unequally distributed. The highways to and from the airport are often bordered with urban blight. The occupants of these neighborhoods suffer noise and air pollution and other social ills not found in the suburbs. This view of the landscape often goes unnoticed because of its familiarity and because the traveler’s thoughts are elsewhere. (more…)

Nick Parker, Executive Chairman of Cleantech, and Mark Donohue, on Cleantech’s North America advisory board, are members of the Ethical Markets

Reseach Advisory Board. Distinguished companies in clean technology recognized at Cleantech Forum XXIII

BOSTON, September 9, 2009 – The Cleantech Group, LLC, providers of leading research, events and advisory services for the cleantech ecosystem, today named the winners of its latest Cleantech Awards in the categories of Most Promising Technology and Product Innovation in front of an audience of 600 industry influencers at Cleantech Forum XXIII Boston.
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Nick Parker, Executive Chairman of Cleantech, and Mark Donohue, on Cleantech’s North America advisory board, are members of the Ethical Markets Reseach Advisory Board.

Inaugural list from the Guardian and Cleantech Group showcases 100 clean technology companies aspiring to shape tomorrow’s world

LONDON, UK AND BOSTON, MA – September 9, 2009: The Guardian and Cleantech GroupT, LLC, providers of leading research, events and advisory services for the cleantech ecosystem, have announced the Global Cleantech 100 – the first ever list of this scale highlighting the most promising private clean technology companies around the world. Supported by the Carbon Trust, the Global Cleantech 100 recognises companies at the forefront of cleantech innovation offering solutions to some of the world’s most pressing environmental challenges.
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Nick Parker, Executive Chairman of Cleantech, and Mark Donohue, on Cleantech’s North America advisory board, are members of the Ethical Markets Reseach Advisory Board.

http://cleantech.com/about/pressreleases/20090826.cfm
Registration about to close for significant clean technology industry event

SAN FRANCISCO – August 26, 2009 – The Cleantech GroupT, LLC, providers of leading global market research and financial services for the cleantech ecosystem, has partnered with the New England Clean Energy Council on its upcoming Cleantech Forum® XXIII Boston occurring in two weeks, September 8-10, 2009, convening more than 600 of the world’s clean technology leaders.
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by Susan Ariel Aaronson, Business and Development Discussion Papers, paper no. 11, summer 2009
Susan Aaronson is a member of the Ethical Markets Research Advisory Board – Corporate and Government Accountability Research
Download the report (PDF)

An Extreme Weekend Retreat
October 1 – 4, 2009
The Mermaid Mountain Inn
Topanga, California, USA
Maximum 13 participants
Register Now: Email emaio@maioandco.com

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John A. “Skip” Laitner, a member of the Calvert-Henderson Quality of Life Index Advisory Board
American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy, July 2009
Download PDF.