The Green Changemakers

Tuesday, March 13, 2012

ISO 26000 and global governance for sustainable development

http://pubs.iied.org/16507IIED.html?k=ISO%202600

Free download: http://pubs.iied.org/pdfs/16507IIED.pdf

ISO 26000 is a new international standard on social responsibility developed by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). It offers guidance across themes including human rights, labour, environment, consumer protection, fair operating practices and community development. The brand recognition of ISO standards, ISO's geographical scope and its credibility among market actors mean that ISO 26000 has the potential to improve the practice of social responsibility in local and global markets. The reach and scale of ISO 26000's impacts has important implications for governance and public policy.

Standards - and market governance mechanisms more broadly - should be analysed not only in terms of their direct impact on environmental, social and economic factors but also in terms of their interaction with policymaking and global governance.

The evolving relationship between market governance mechanisms and public governance, both national and global, has not been adequately considered to date. But this relationship matters for sustainable development.

This paper describes the development of the ISO 26000 standard and discusses the dissonances that emerged in relation to policymaking, global governance and consequently sustainable development. The paper suggests a number of steps that could be taken to maximise the positive contributions of ISO 26000 to global governance for sustainable development and offers lessons for the analysis of other market governance mechanisms.

Ward, H.,(2011) ISO 26000 and global governance for sustainable development, IIED London

More information on IIED site

Friday, March 2, 2012

What Is The Gift Economy & Why Do We Need It So Badly?

http://sacred-economics.com/

Sacred Economics traces the history of money from ancient gift economies to modern capitalism, revealing how the money system has contributed to alienation, competition, and scarcity, destroyed community, and necessitated endless growth. Today, these trends have reached their extreme - but in the wake of their collapse, we may find great opportunity to transition to a more connected, ecological, and sustainable way of being.

"I consider Charles Eisenstein one of the up-and-coming great minds of our time. Rarely have I met a person who combines such philosophical and spiritual depth with such practical insights into the cultural and institutional origins of the potentially terminal dysfunctions of modern society - and the potential solutions."
- David Korten, author of The Great Turning

Above: Sacred Economics (2012) - short film by Ian MacKenzie, a teaser on the ideas of Charles Eisenstein and the return of the gift.

Introduction
Chapter 1: The Gift World
Chapter 2: Greed and the Illusion of Scarcity
Chapter 3: Money and the Mind
Chapter 4: The Trouble with Property
Chapter 5: The Corpse of the Commons
Chapter 6: The Economics of Usury
Chapter 7: The Crisis of Civilization
Chapter 8: The Turning of the Age
Chapter 9: The Story of Value
Chapter 10: The Law of Return
Chapter 11: Currencies of the Commons
Chapter 12: Negative-interest Economics
Chapter 13: Steady-state and Degrowth Economics
Chapter 14: The Social Dividend
Chapter 15: Local and Complementary Currencies
Chapter 16: Transition to Gift Economy
Chapter 17: Summary and Roadmap
Chapter 18: Relearning Gift Culture
Chapter 19: Non-Accumulation
Chapter 20: Right Livelihood and Sacred Investing
Chapter 21: Working in the Gift
Chapter 22: Community and the Unquantifiable
Chapter 23: A New Materialism
Chapter 24: Conclusion: The More Beautiful World Our Hearts Tell Us Is Possible

“City 2.0″ Wins TED Prize

For the very first time, TED, the nonprofit organization devoted to “Ideas Worth Spreading,” awarded its TED Prize not to an individual but to an idea. The winner was “City 2.0,” an idea dedicated to creating the city of the future in which more than ten billion people will live happily, healthfully and sustainably.

This week, the official “wish” of the City 2.0 idea was unveiled as a short film, displaying the key phrases that build the foundation of this concept, like, “I want to be inclusive, innovative, healthy, soulful, thriving.”

The City 2.0 stands for a new platform that excites, connects, and empowers individuals and communities around the world to create an ever-expanding network of citizen-led experiments in their own cities. The City 2.0 wish is an effort to inspire and guide professionals, governments and citizens to join efforts in making choices around transportation, energy, public space, housing and law.

To give voice and put the choices in the hands of everyone, City 2.0 is also launching TheCity2.org, and online platform where citizens can participate in the creation of their own future city. Through this site, citizens are encouraged to tackle and prioritize the issues they find crucial to their city’s success. The site will also invite mayors, architects, engineers, urban planners, non-profits, multinational companies, and others to freely share ideas, tools, and resources.

“Our best cities reflect our best selves, and when done right they are the heart of culture, innovation, and entrepreneurship,” said TED Prize Director Amy Novogratz. “We have thrown the weight of the annual TED Prize behind the City 2.0., because we see opportunity in inspiring everyone to re-imagine how we work, learn, and live. Like our cities, the TED Prize is based on radical collaboration, and for the billions of us living in – and moving to – cities, this is a wish for all of us to take on.”

What would be the first issue you tackle in your city?

Life Beyond Growth

New Report "Life Beyond Growth" Describes an Economic Revolution in the Making

The Tokyo-based Institute for Studies in Happiness, Economy, and Society (ISHES) today released a groundbreaking report, Life Beyond Growth, which documents the rapid rise of new economic ideas once deemed "alternative."

"In just a few short years, leading nations have moved swiftly to adopt frameworks like Green Economy and Gross National Happiness," said lead author Alan AtKisson. "A growing chorus of people, including presidents, prime ministers, and Nobel laureates are calling for better ways to

define, and to measure, overall national progress. Life Beyond Growth brings everyone up to speed on these exciting and fast-moving developments."

Referring to recent statements (documented in the report) issued by high-level United Nations panels, by the head of the OECD and other sources, AtKisson noted that their common theme could be summed up in a short phrase: "The GDP just doesn't cut it anymore."

Life Beyond Growth was first commissioned at the beginning of 2011, but its completion was delayed while the authors took stock of the dramatic events of that year, including Arab Spring, the Eurozone crisis, and especially the earthquake and tsunami that shook Japan on March 11.

Junko Edahiro, who serves as President of ISHES as well as CEO of Japan for Sustainability (a prominent NGO), believes that world events make the key messages in Life Beyond Growth even more relevant now.

"In the context of growing concern as conditions on Earth worsen, and especially since the Great East Japan Earthquake, more and more people are starting to ask key questions, like 'What is really important?' and 'What kind of economy and society is likely to bring us true happiness?'"

Ms. Edahiro said from her home in Tokyo. "I believe this report will provide a good foundation for people of the world to think comprehensively about happiness, economy, and society."

The release of Life Beyond Growth in the English-speaking world is being timed to coincide with the 40th anniversary of the release of another pioneering study, The Limits to Growth, a book that sold millions of copies. In 1972, the idea that humanity's growing presence on planet Earth would eventually lead to global problems such as shortages of water and other resources, fisheries depletion, or global warming was highly controversial. The Limits to Growth was harshly attacked by leading economists at the time. But in recent years, even some of its original critics -- including, for example, Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz -- have acknowledged the essential validity of its message.

Professor Stiglitz is now one of the leading voices (documented in Life Beyond Growth) calling for new measures of progress to complement or replace the Gross Domestic Product, or GDP, which measures economic growth in terms of official financial transactions. The GDP, says Stiglitz, is "a poor measure of well-being, or even market activity."

While economists have known about the GDP's many deficiencies for decades, there seemed to be no alternative to using the GDP as the yardstick for national progress... until now.

Life Beyond Growth "traces the evolution of this revolution in economic thought," said AtKisson. Starting with a historical review, the report then provides an inventory and analysis of the "alternatives and complements to GDP-measured growth" that have taken the national and

international policy world by storm in just a few short years. It also maps out the future "geo-political prospects" for ideas like National Wellbeing, Gross National Happiness, Green Economy, Green Growth, and Sustainable Development.

Written for the general reader, Life Beyond Growth is also meant to serve as a briefing paper for decision-makers. Many of them are grappling with the sudden emergence of new economic ideas and indicators, and they are trying to make sense of these rapid developments, which have the potential to redefine national economic policy in the 21st century.

The Life Beyond Growth report is intended to be the first in an annual series of updates, and will be complemented by a new website, www.LifeBeyondGrowth.org.

New Faith Values and ESD Publication

http://www.earthcharterinaction.org/content/articles/811/1/New-Faith-Values-and-ESD-Publication/Page1.html

“Exploring synergies between faith values and education for sustainable development” is the new publication of Earth Charter International.

Edited by Rick Clugston and Steve Holt, with a preface by Mary Evelyn Tucker, this publication provides a space for the voices of different religions and faith traditions to be shared and linked with the efforts of Education for Sustainable Development. In this issue, the points of convergence between ESD and faith values are examined, with emphasis on potential synergies between them. This effort recognizes the valuable role faith traditions play in creating a sustainable world, and in making a substantial contribution to the efforts of the United Nations Decade on Education for Sustainable Development.

This publication is the result of a collaborative effort between Earth Charter International, the University for Peace and the UNESCO San Jose office. The work was commissioned by the Education for Sustainable Development section at UNESCO in Paris and received the financial support of the Japanese Funds-in-Trust for ESD. It is the first publication of the new UNESCO Chair on Education for Sustainable Development and the Earth Charter.

This publication presents seventeen articles from Indigenous Traditions, Abrahamic and Asian Religious Traditions. Find the full text and each chapter of this publication in the following links:

Full text

Chapters: