2010 October | FabianPattberg.com

A real shame: Some great upcoming Sustainability / CSR conferences but no livestream

October 28, 201011:34 am

I know what I would love to do the next one and a half weeks. Starting today I would be attending the NetImpact Conference in Michigan until Sunday and then fly to New York to get to the BSR 2010 conference starting on the 2nd of November.

Unfortunately I can not attend. I, like many others I believe, have a lot of other commitments for this time period but at the same time are highly interested in listening to and watching several speeches and sessions via a livestream. We in Europe would be an ideal target audience for this kind of livestream because we could participate online during the evenings our Europe time (I am living in the UK and the time difference would make this possible).

But there is no such possibility to do so with these really interesting upcoming events. And this is a real shame.

Conference organizers are missing a trick here in my view
Imagine the scenario that NetImpact or BSR would provide a fairly inexpensive livestream ($150-300 USD) for some selected sessions during the conference such as the key note speeches and Q&A sessions. I am not asking for a live feed for every session but just the ones that have the best global appeal.

Financially this livestream possibility could also be very lucrative for conference organizers in my view. They might not be able to charge vast amounts of money as they do for the actual participants (which is another topic for a post) but from what I know is the Return on Investment (ROI) for online participants at the rate mentioned above is not really something I would turn down as a conference organizer. In my view conference organizers at these two conferences are really missing a trick here. Both financially and in terms of participation.

It can be done – Sustainable Brands 2010
This kind of online conference participation can be done as some other conference organizers have shown this year. One example was the 2010 Sustainable Brands conference which had this possibility of a live stream. I used this and I really enjoyed it.

We are living in exciting times when you look at the technology we already have at our disposal. It is therefore a shame that these two leading conferences do not provide and even attempt to engage a wider audience via this online participation even though we now have the technology at fairly inexpensive costs to do so.

This is my view on this and I hope some of the leading conference organizers will follow the examples of the last Sustainable Brands conference in 2010 and try to embrace the new age of technology by providing a livestream.

What is your view?

Picture Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/cogdog/4389124180/

Appreciation of the CSR / Sustainability work you do

October 25, 201012:42 pm

3 Comments

Our work in the CSR / Sustainability can often be very difficult and not necessarily rewarding if you are constantly trying to create and promote change. Today’s post has a simple message:

Show your appreciation for someone’s work more often. Even if it is someone you do not know personally. I am sure they will appreciate it.

This email below reminded me of this simple but also so important aspect of our work. I got this message from someone (not to be disclosed for privacy reasons) a few days ago and only came across reading today:

—–

Hi Fabian,

it is with joy that I came across your blog and sites. Just recently I realized that I want do work on something that I love such as sustainability. Perhaps at a sustainability office somewhere or a work that is directly impacting sustainable activities.

Obviously I cannot just quit my job and study a grad program in sustainability. I have financial obligations. However, I already know what I want. Now I need to get there. I have a blog that I intent to maintain as I grow more knowledgeable in the subject and to share the message. In doing some searches I came across one of your blogs.

I want to personally thank you for the great information you provide. It will certainly help me. I will be putting links to your stuff from my blog.

Take care.
—–

So nice of this person to write this totally unsolicited email.

I believe that we need to take the time more often to write these kind of emails or messages in order to tell someone how much we appreciate the work they are doing in the CSR / Sustainability field. It will surely be something they will remember and appreciate.

Happy Monday everyone!

Picture Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/clevercupcakes/3464578554

Will a sustainable future make everyone happier?

October 22, 201012:16 pm

16 Comments

If you are reading this then you probably are interested in Sustainability. I am also assuming that we also agree on the fact that the human species on earth needs to strive being more sustainable because the way we live at the moment is not sustainable at all.

The purpose of today’s post is to briefly discuss the topic of happiness and its relationship to our sustainable future as I see it.

I am a happier person ( I know the term “happiness” is a bit general but lets just use it for the purpose of this post) because I have the opportunity to make a difference and promote a more sustainable way of doing business by providing companies with insights which help them to be more sustainable. The same is true for my personal life. I do not need to consume excessively in order to be happy and I am keen to live my life as sustainable as possible.

But here is the issue. The reality is that the majority of people on this globe will not be a happier if we all try to live a more sustainable life. Aspects such as consumption and product variety will be hardest hit one we decide to lie a more sustainable lifestyle and the so called consumer-culture will quickly be a phenomenon of the past my view. In the end everything will have to be consumed in moderation because of our limited resources and everyone, from the rich and poor, will have to make cut backs and change the way they live life.

The big question
But can we as a species really adapt to consume in moderation, realistically scale down, make economic progress and be happier all at the same time?

My view
My answer is a clear ‘Yes we can’, simply because WE MUST change our ways. I also believe that we will find ways to innovate as well as be more sustainable. And this goes for each member of our society: Businesses, governments and individuals. Once we are finding ways to combine these different aspects happiness will be a consequence.

This is one of the big and important questions with regards to Sustainability in my view. I know that I am doing my best to convince my family and friends to live more sustainable (sometimes more effective and sometimes less unfortunately) but the crucial question is whether the majority of people on our planet will do the same.

My personal view on this particular topic is that we have no choice. WE NEED to make it possible. This is part of the purpose of Sustainability in my view. I also believe that in the end all of us will be happier then ever before because we, as a species, made change happen and paved the way for a more sustainable future for us and the generations to follow.

This is my view. What is yours?

Picture Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/36176995@N05/3343552223

Can augmented technology enhance CSR / Sustainability reporting?

October 15, 201011:50 am

2 Comments

We know that CSR / Sustainability reports are not the most interesting bedtime reading. Despite some great work by the individuals in the CSR / Sustainability departments a CSR / Sustainability report can not really be more then some pictures and text on a piece of paper at this point in time.

Todays post is about introducing you to the topic of augmented technology. Sounds very complex and techie but don’t worry it is really easy to understand. This is the general concept: By using augmented technology, in our case smart phones, we as readers will be able to have an enhanced view and perception of the content and pictures of this CSR / Sustainability report. If I have lost you here please bear with me and watch this video below.

Here is a video to provide you with a practical example of how this technology is being used already (please disregard the horrible facial hair of the presenter )

How can this technology could be used to enhance CSR / Sustainability Reports?
In many different ways is the answer. Here are some possibilities. First from a companies perspective and then from the stakeholder perspective.

Company Perspective
Let’s view this from a recycling/ waste company’s perspective: Here augmented technology (when you hold your smart phone (iPhone, etc.) in front of this picture) can be used to provide the reader with so much more context by using different layers in images. Imagine a derelict landscape which during the course of the years has been transformed into a wildlife sanctuary again. Here the company finally has the company to show past and present all in a sequence and not by having to explain everything in detail with lots of text which no one will read anyway.

Stakeholder Perspective
As a stakeholder, this technology enables us to find the interesting bits and pieces of information much easier. Imagine you are viewing a chart of selected environmental key indicators. Only the past 2 years are displayed in order for you to see the short term progress the company has made. But holding your smart phone in front of this chart you will be able to see 5 years worth of data if you interested in a longer term view of the data.

The picture on the right is showing some glaciers in the Alps. By holding your iPhone towards them, the distance to these glaciers from your location and their altitude is being displayed.

These are only two examples (as you know I like to keep it short) on how this technology could be used to enhance CSR / Sustainability Reports. But enough from me now.

What is your view?
What is your view on this technology? Have you come across it before and do you think this would be valuable to enhance CSR / Sustainability reports?

Picture Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/10812666@N03/4271298758

Exciting news – Now blogging for The Guardian and more!

October 13, 20103:28 pm

3 Comments

If you are interested in Sustainability / CSR and browse the web to find interesting articles on these topics, then you most certainly will have have come across articles from The Guardian Newspaper. Ever since we moved to the UK 8 years ago I have been a big fan of The Guardian, so when they approached me several weeks ago and asked whether I would be interested in contributing some blog entries every now and then for their newly launched Sustainable Business section of their website I jumped at the chance.

This is such honor for me and I am really happy to be able to contribute.

Next to blogging I am happy to report that we have also reached an agreement to share content between The Guardian Sustainable Business website and my SustainabilityForum.com.

SustainabilityForum.com is now officially a content partner in the Sustainable Business Editorial Network.

So stay tuned for some interesting blogs from my side and great editorials from SustainabilityForum.com on The Guardian Sustainable Business website!

Well done Yeo Valley – A sustainable family business embraces social media

October 10, 20109:28 am

5 Comments

If you are based in the UK and you watched TV yesterday evening there is a chance you might have come across this video social media campaign already. Yeo Valley, a UK based farming and dairy business launched a new campaign promoting their organic products this Saturday.

This is a great example of how a new way social media can be target the younger generation and help raise the awareness of Sustainability topics. Younger generation? Yes the whole campaign is aimed to appeal to the 15-25 year olds it seems as it was launched during the advertising breaks of the xfactor TV casting show here in the UK. It was the first ad at each commercial break.

What a great idea! I really like the ad but what I even like more is the fact that this business is family-owned and not part of a multi-national. If it was a part of a multi-national you could expect this as part of a branding campaign but this is a old-style family business embracing social media.

These type of social media campaigns will be the future and I certainly hope we are going to see more campaigns like these.

Here is the official video:

Note: I am in no way affiliated with Yeo Valley just like the this new campaign!

Can NGO’s be the only organisational thought leaders in the CSR / Sustainability field?

October 5, 20103:00 pm

14 Comments

The social media / tech world was taken by surprise last week when Techcrunch (one of the largest tech / social media blogs globally) announced that it has been acquired by AOL. Immediately the future editorial independence of Techcrunch was questioned now being a part of the AOL empire. Rightly so in my view.

Here is a thought. So what if this kind of acquisition would be happening in the CSR / Sustainability business sector? What would happen what would happen to their credibility?

I think this question is impossible to answer at this point due to the lack of examples (to my knowledge their have been no acquisitions of this kind as of yet) but thinking about it brought up another issue I never really thought about before.

The question is: Are all organisations that are so called thought leaders in the CSR / Sustainability sector all NGO’s or government funded?

Or lets put this another way: Can we have genuine organisational thought leaders in this field without them being NGOs or government funded? Lets not talk about individuals but focus on organisations that are being seen as thought leaders.

My thoughts on this:

The problem is that all profit driven organisations which are intending to be thought leaders in the CSR / Sustainability field will always try to sell their product in some shape or form. This is the nature of our free market economic system unfortunately in this case. As far as I am aware there is no organisation out there that are thought leaders, not trying to sell a product / service and are not an NGO or government funded. I also doubt that these organisations can ever exist as every organisation needs to pay their bills and earn a decent living for their founders and employees in order to carry out their work.

I can only therefore conclude that NGO’s are and can be the only real thought leaders in the CSR / Sustainability field.

This is my conclusion. What is yours?

Picture Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/hamed/327939900

Has the recent 10:10 campaign video gone to far?

October 1, 201011:14 am

18 Comments

I am not whether anyone has seen this campaign video by “The 1010 Campaign“. It was launched yesterday as far as I can see.

If not take a look (warning – very disturbing – and this is no joke!)

My view on this campaign video:

I was stunned to see this kind of graphic video. For me this is way over the top. Yes it is different and yes it brings a clear point across. But I am not sure that is the correct point. We need constructive campaigns and not yet another shocker campaign video such as the Greenpeace KitKat video or now this one here. These kind of over the top campaigns actually harms and undermines our cause to raise awareness of the threat of climate change in my view instead of helping it.

What do you think about this campaign video? Please either comment the post or vote in the poll below:

UPDATE:
The video has been taken down. It seems that the negative response was to strong for them!

Update II: This is a link to a reuploaded video if you still care to watch it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xx4yr0FFhMQ

Fabian Pattberg

Monthly Archives - October 2010