Carbon Capital: Financing a Low Carbon Europe 2020

It is going to cost €2.9 trillion.

See my full write-up here!

Making It Sexy: Sustainability Reporting

I am officially a writer for the Ethical Fashion Forum magazine The Source: ‘The World’s Leading Source of Sustainable Fashion Business Intelligence’!

In my spare time, I will write 1 article per month on the latest issues facing the fashion industry, highlighting strategies for success in sustainable supply chains and business operations.

My contributor page is here and my first article, entitled ‘Making It Sexy: Sustainability Reporting’ is currently on the front page. Members only I am afraid and it is Copywritten so cannot send to people but do sign up to EFF as it is a fantastic organisation.

Second article was sent to ‘press’ yesterday so keep your eyes peeled!

Win 2 tickets to Paris! Sustainability poetry competition...

Amida, the Sustainable Development Recruitment Agency, has launched a poetry competition with a sustainability theme, with your chance to win 2 return tickets to Paris!

Deadline for entries: Monday 14th March 2011 at 5pm.

Details here http://www.amida-recruit.com/event-details.aspx?q=3

Send the link to others with a (clandestine) creative streak and penchant for sustainability!

The TTT

Here we have a lovely image of a town in summer not too far from where I grew up in South Devon- called Totnes. It became the first Transition Town in 2005 and has gone from strength to strength in showing the bets ways to live sustainably, together. I am part of Transition Highbury in London- see my AGM and Transition Training Weekend blog post from July/August 2010 for more information. Finally, today, Transition Town Totnes (TTT) and the transition movement in general that has since followed and developed in communities the world over has had some decent coverage in The Guardian! Let's hope it goes from the being the fastest growing social movement of our day to, well...even faster!

Canadian tar sands

Everyone loves the Guardian for news interest and I love Guardian Environment and Sustainable Business! One item on the agenda is Canadian tar sands...

Fish fight

Hughie F-W is back with a vengeance and joins Gordon and Heston in the fight to save our fish stocks, with a series highlighting the plight of our unsustainable use of marine resources.

Awareness Raising

WHY do we raise awareness? The Transition message (Peak Oil + climate change + social injustice = a great and brilliant need to rethink our systems), whereas media messages are often profoundly contradictory and confusing.

HOW does engagement happen? Look at what people already know, what information already exists. They need to know about the issue and why it is important, then let them know what is possible and what they can do.

WHO are we trying to reach? Think about who is in your community (the diversity of cultures, races, ages, levels of wealth, languages, jobs, religions, lifestyles, values and motivations, political affiliation, how long they have lived there for) and what levels of access they have to internet and transport.

When communicating with someone about an issue, one must attempt to gauge how best they learn in order to target the style of engagement- whether they are verbal, visual, tactile, learn through being shown, likes facts and figures, etc. Some may want to be involved but do not want to know about the graphs and explanations of peak oil- they do not need to be convinced nor understand to take part.

Stages:
1. PRE-CONTEMPLATION: Is there a problem?
2. CONTEMPLATION: There is a problem, what needs doing?
3. PREPARATION: What will I do and how?
4. CHANGE: Keep going with this, try a different solution?

Some people never get past stage 1 but do not waste your time on these ‘brick wallers’. It is crucial to raise awareness with enjoyment (e.g. by hosting a fun community event) as if you do not enjoy the change, you will not change.

HOW MANY people do we need to tell? According to Malcolm Gladwell, there will be a ‘tipping point’. Every time there is change in society, there are doubters. The believers start underground, grow in numbers, then suddenly there is ‘tipping point’ and the movement grows. For example with women’s votes or anti-child labour, people thought ‘oh no, this cannot happen, our society will collapse’, but it did happen and works better.

The key messages for awareness raising are:
-you do not have to engage EVERYONE.
-remember that it is not always easy.
-make it fun!

Another set of (very) good tips for this type of thing are written by Chris Rose and are published on his ‘Campaign Strategy’ website.