I’m just going to quote the Howies blog for this- It really puts into words how I’m feeling right now… I think this is a lead on, though an antithesis to my riversimple post, for me it shows a genuine helplessness- how the hell are we ever going to get ‘the power’ back to make people take responsibility for their actions. It’s a very sad and impossible state of affairs to be in.

There are some swear words in this. I tried not to.

Why are we not getting better at the bad stuff?

We invented the plane and have streamlined systems to fly people all over the world, but cannot get them home when there is ash in the sky.

Leaves stop trains.

We create power from uranium, but have no great plan for it when it’s spent but still highly dangerous.

And when 5000 barrels of oil a day flood onto the oceans it will take another 90 days to drill another well into the oil field to release the gas to stop the flow. So by the time they stop it between 1-5 million barrels will have leaked into a fragile ocean.

And this is the third time in 5 years BP have fucked up like this.  Why should shareholders and the company benefit when the world has paid the price?

Governments, business, people need to make the companies that are making big big money from high risk stuff prove that they are prepared for the big fuck up’s before they start.

Really prove it.

They must stand up in front of a huge room of children who will come up with all those madcap ideas that may happen. And if they can prove they are prepared, the next question from the kids will be “why”?

And if after all this they fuck up, then the company management is  sacked after they have gone out and cleaned up their mess.

When it’s big stuff like this, companies have got to be good at the bad stuff.

The worst part of it is, these companies are asking designers everyday to make them look a certain way (BP especially)- to give the impressions of care, alluding to ‘greeness’; and the designers say YES!

I came across this company in the UK who are releasing an open source hydrogen fuel cell car, while researching alternative fuels. I wanted to share a couple of quotes… The car doesn’t interest me so much as the business model: they recognise that most people don’t necessarily want an object (the car) that simply depreciates, they just want to be able to move around. Thus, they are moving away from the idea of car ownership- they say “Car manufacturers make money from selling cars and parts- which rewards obsolescence and high running costs”- they want to move towards leasing vehicles- which “rewards longevity and low running costs”- the car manufacturers take responsibility for the car, it’s fuel, and fixing it up.

They go onto say:

“we can never achieve a sustainable system whilst the interests of one stakeholder group, such as shareholders legally trumps the interests of society or the environment.”

Nail on the head I think- the interests of the highest earners dictates our overall direction, (as opposed to what a society wants) the desirable direction, for those high earners being to earn even more. Thus we have a never ending cycle.

http://www.riversimple.com/

This is lovely and has left me with such a positive feeling. I couldn’t have imagined watching a 12 minute film about a soda shop, but John Nese- the owner is incredibly intelligent, sensitive and inspirational. My favourite part is when he talks about the idea of businesses trading on a similar scale i.e. small business to small business; everybody helps to sustain simply by buying from each other and being aware of who is good. I also had no idea one could ‘commission a soda’ – that’s amazing!

(via howies brainfood blog)