Spirit in the Village

Seth Godin - We are Living in the Industrial Revolution of our Time

Posted by Kevin Boon. Follow me on Twitter.

This is Part 2 - See Part 1 - Exploiting Chaos and Seizing Opportunity.

Part 2 - Seth Godin - Invisible or Remarkable

Last week I had the opportunity to hear Seth Godin at the Communitech Leadership Conference in Waterloo Ontario. His presentation called Invisible or Remarkable focused on the changes happening in our world from the way we interact to how we create wealth.

According to Seth we are living through the Industrial Revolution of our Time and this revolution will dwarf the one experienced by our ancestors in the 1700 and 1800's. Technology and new media provide us all with the tools for being part of this revolution and what's exciting is he invites us all to play an active role in what's coming.

The Old Paradigm - Interruption Marketing

He referred to the old paradigm for marketing as Interruption Marketing where companies found innovative ways to interrupt people with commercials, ads and by getting in their face.

Interruption Marketing was successful but at a cost: average products for average people. If you’re going to be successful and interrupt everyone, you better be average.

The formula for success in the old paradigm: buy ads > distract > sell more > make a profit. (And remember: be average)

This formula has fallen apart recently.

He says there is too much clutter in the old paradigm. Products are branded to death, too costly to promote and it’s getting harder for marketers to break the noise and get through to consumers. In the new paradigm customers don’t want our attention. They are not listening since they have been spammed too many times.

The question: How do you take your business above the noise?

(I like this photo)

The New Paradigm - We are in the business of spreading ideas.

The new paradigm is take something that is good enough and change it so everyone is talking about it. He uses the purple cow as an example and says nobody talks about cows, but if you create a purple cow, everybody starts talking and the spam goes away.

His Advice for Companies

You need to totally embrace new media for your business (by committing resources and time) or stay away from it completely.

Your message is too important to be left to the marketing department.

The race is for permission. The race is for tribes.

Permission Marketing

Permission Marketing is where you learn to turn strangers into friends and you earn the right to connect. He says Apple has earned this privilege and other companies are learning to do the same.

The revolution as Seth describes is direct communication with people who make and buy your services.

Tribes

Tribes are everywhere and have been around since the beginning of civilization. They are a natural part of our human desire to connect and can be found within religion, politics, corporations, everywhere... The opportunity is to build and lead tribes. It takes only 10 people to build a tribe and a person can make a great living with a committed tribe of 1000 people.

The Big Shift in Thinking

We are no longer creating Customers for Products but we are now tasked with creating Products for Customers.

Success before Commitment is now Commitment before Success.

The first point says to me that through the structure of technology and new media we now have the ability to hear what our customers want and make products and services specific for them. The second point says we need to take risks, try various approaches and commit until we succeed.

Final Thoughts & Observations

Seth Godin is an excellent presenter who provokes us with images and words to wake up and understand the real story of what’s happening in our world today. His blog is considered the most popular marketing blog in the world and with a little reading you can understand why he has earned that title.

As I personally speak to executives and business owners I am excited by how many are trying to absorb the message of new media and apply the methods to their business. The big questions today: Should I blog? Should I Twitter, use Facebook or YouTube? How do I take my product or service and rise above the noise?

Traditional business structures are changing. Marketing, PR, Sales, Product Development and overall organizational strategy are going through fundamental shifts. The next few years will require a leadership, fresh ideas and the courage to look at business in a new way.

The Industrial Revolution of our time is the Internet, new media and the infrastructure that technology provides. Adapting and thriving in this new paradigm will be our task.

Jeremy Gutsche – Exploiting Chaos and Seizing Opportunity

Posted by Kevin Boon. Follow me on Twitter.

Last week I had the opportunity to hear Seth Godin and Jeremy Gutsche talk at the Communitech Leadership conference in Waterloo Ontario.

Here are some highlights which I have divided into two parts.

Part 1 - Exploiting Chaos and Seizing Opportunity

Jeremy Gutsche is the CEO and Founder of Trendhunter.com, the world’s largest community for trend spotting, ideas, creativity and innovation. Jeremy started by saying the main challenge for consumers and businesses is how we learn to manage and make sense of all the chatter and noise on the web.

He says inspiration has become distracting and the noise too much.

Culture Eats Strategy for Breakfast

In order to compete effectively companies need to find ways to rise above the noise with innovative messaging, a better understanding the customer and a willingness to take risks. Jeremy touched on what he calls adaptive innovation where he says the Internet and social media have changed the rules for customer engagement. Today creating culture is the best way to attract customers and says when planning your business, culture eats strategy for breakfast.

Risk is Good

He encourages companies to let go of rigid controls that hinder innovation and develop more of a gambling philosophy. This worked for the BBC as they struggled for years with rigid controls when they took a risk and produced the hit TV show, the Office.

Jeremy says learning to fail is a good and his motto win like you are used to it and lose like you enjoy it!

Success Leads to Complacency

He used the analogy of Smith Corona who in 1989 sold $500 million in typewriters and by 1995 were bankrupt after being unwilling to adapt to consumer demands and opportunities for new technologies (like computers).

He says, success leads to complacency and encourages companies to talk with customers, listen and be open to the complete possibility of what could be.

Supercharging your Message for Results that Creates Impact

When marketing for the web he says create a message that is simple, direct and supercharged. When Sarah Palin was running for Vice President, one simple change from Female Vice Presidents to Hot Vice Presidents garnered a million more hits to his website. Another was for a hamburger franchise, Fleurburger who took the term the world’s most expensive hamburger and supercharged their message to the $5000 hamburger resulting in increased hits.

Observations

I came away from this presentation with a feeling that every rule I ever learned about business has changed forever. The Internet and New Media are like the Wild West, everybody's carrying a six shooter and who knows going to live, die or take all the gold.

How we attract business will require creativity, innovative thinking and leadership from all levels within an organization. These are exciting times and an opportunity for average people and companies to create incredible wealth and rise way above the noise...

I will leave you with a video from Jeremy’s website.

Next Post: Seth Godin and the 21st Century Industrial Revolution.

Deepak Chopra - Consciousness, Awareness, Meditation and Art

Posted by Kevin Boon. Follow me on Twitter.

Deepak Chopra through his books and recordings was the first to explain to me God or consciousness from a scientific perspective. On Monday April 27th I had the opportunity to hear Deepak once again during his visit to Toronto.

What Does Science Really Know About God?

There are many perspectives on what we call God or consciousness, so many in fact that we rarely agree. Our religious or spiritual traditions teach us how to live and within stories we are encouraged to have faith however the biggest challenge is so much is un-provable from a scientific perspective. Chopra and other ground breaking philosophers and scientists we are getting closer to helping us understand God.

We are not our bodies

Chopra tells the story of life from the perspective of our bodies, our minds, beliefs and our emotions. He says science shows us today that we are none of these. He uses examples from quantum physics that describe how with each breath we take in 10 to the power of 22 atoms from the universe. That’s 10 plus 22 zeros atoms from just one breath. When we breathe out we do the same and with the simple act of breathing these atoms are re-creating our bodies, our organs, our heart, lungs, liver, kidneys, etc.

He says within 3 years the human body recycles 98% of itself and what makes up your body today might be atoms from a plant, a snail or other human beings. He says each human living today has over a million atoms that were once in the body of Christ or Buddha but we also have a million atoms that once belonged to Hitler or Saddam Hussein.

We intimately share our bodies and yet we live in this illusion that we are separate.

Science has proven that we are not our bodies.

Our thoughts, beliefs, emotions, possessions and relationships

What about our thoughts, beliefs or emotions?

Deepak describes while we can understand the physical nature of the body and mind there is something within that is unexplainable.

He calls it awareness. Other philosophers call it consciousness, aliveness and some call it God.

Deepak goes on to say that awareness is non-local meaning it’s not necessarily located within our body or brain. In fact we don’t know where it’s located. He says it is both local and non-local at the same time meaning awareness within you or me is part of a much greater universal consciousness or universal mind.

Why Does Knowing about Awareness Matter?

Our bodies, our possessions, our relationships, our jobs and those things we think are real are actually not real at all. He says our interest in the material world is more like a “superstition” or even an “addiction” especially when they take over our life.

If our bodies, minds, relationships or possessions are not real then why are we here? This is where most people get lost in this teaching because each one of us has a job, families, mortgages, wants and desires. This is where it becomes important to listen to the next phase of what he says. By knowing we are awareness we have the ability to tap into that awareness and improve the quality of our lives.

What I like about Chopra is his willingness to go after the highest truth and although is a little mind bending what he speaks of makes sense. The next part describes how he gets in touch with that awareness.

A Meditation to Connect with Awareness

Here is a meditation for getting in touch with that awareness.

• Close your eyes, relax, breathe, listen to your breathe and get comfortable.
• Think about those areas of your life where you feel grateful. Having gratitude opens the doorway to awareness.
• Put thought in what you want from your life from relationships, career, health, abundance, prosperity or whatever it is for you.
• Silently meditate and repeat within your mind the mantra “I AM” “I AM” and continue to repeat for 15 or 20 minutes. If you get off track then just bring yourself back into the “I AM” mantra.

This meditation is designed to connect us with the universal consciousness or awareness. By connecting with our awareness we can tap into the power of the creative process or the universal mind.

Everything in this world once started as a thought. To create a chair there is first the thought, the planning, assembling the materials and then construction. All things from buildings, to artwork, and even relationships are created with thought first.

Art and it's Connection to the Soul

The day after Deepak we went to the AGO (Art Gallery of Ontario) in Toronto and as I walked around looking at the works of art I began to connect with that sense of the awareness. Artwork sometimes can allow us to connect deeper within our soul.

One thing I know for sure is the awareness can only be explained to a certain point with words. In reality it can only be experienced.

I’m going to practice Deepak’s meditation of Gratitude, Desires and then the mantra of I AM and I’ll keep you posted on how that meditation comes together.

Here is an interview with Ellen and Deepak.

Religious and Cultural Balance – Part 2 in a Series on Work-Life Balance

Posted by Kevin Boon. Follow me on Twitter.

When I ask people what they feel is the major cause of strife in the world, I’m usually given one word: RELIGION!

Whether you’re a believer or non-believer when we look back at history, wars, genocide and conflict in the name of religion are common. Ironically at the core of most religions is a message of peace, good will or the golden rule yet with all those good intentions religion contributes to conflict or misery around the world.

Is the search for God engrained within us?

Human beings have a natural inclination to search for something beyond life. The earliest civilizations looked to the stars and heavens for answers. At some stage in our lives we all ask the question; why am I here? What happens to me when I die? Where did I come from before I was born? Etc… I’m convinced that our search for spiritual meaning is inherent within us. Even for Atheists there is a search for understanding and based on that search opinions are formed.

Our quality of life would greatly improve if we could find a way to create religious and cultural balance. Karen Armstrong is a well known author who has written a number of books on God and world religions. She spoke at one of the Ted conferences and discussed her Counsel for Compassion as a way for religios leaders to find peace.

I’ve split her talk up into 3 main areas aligning with my theme of factors that I believe would help to create more balance on a religious and cultural level.

Here are some highlights of her talk and video is included below:

A. Leadership and a Common Vision

In her travels Ms. Armstrong says religious leaders from around the world are looking for ways to find common ground, peace and understanding. She says even in places like Pakistan (where democratic freedoms are repressed) there is a yearning amongst the population to find a way to live in peace.

Looking for Common Themes

Every major faith she says, has a common idea of “compassion” or what can bring you into the presence of the divine (God). She says when bringing spiritual philosophies together looking for common themes is important and every one of the major world religions uses the idea of the Golden Rule to treat others as you want to be treated.

Hijacking Religion

She says religion today has been hijacked. Even in Christianity where Jesus taught love your enemies, Christians today around the world judge others. Teachings of Islam or Judaism that teach hate and intolerance have also been hijacked. She says there is a religious illiteracy where compassion and the golden rule are put into second place behind beliefs like, the need to be right.

Religion as a Force of Peace and Harmony

She goes on to say, religion should be made a force for harmony in the world and the golden rule should be applied globally. We should not treat other nations as we do not want to be treated ourselves. She says there is a hunger for change and the desire for change is global.

What’s needed is a coming together of leaders from all religions to find common ground.

B. Changing Fundamental Beliefs - Acceptance versus Tolerance

Ms. Armstrong says the most critical part to changing attitudes is to shift our belief from being tolerant to acceptance. These words have a power because by accepting another person or their religion it means we embrace them for who they are. This shift in attitude will require wisdom and leaders from all religious faiths to have vision to lead and show the way.

A Global Movement – A Charter for Compassion

Ms. Armstrong finished her discussion with her wish:
“You would help with the creation, launch and propagation of a charter for compassion crafted by a group of inspirational thinkers from the three Abrahamic traditions of Judaism, Christianity and Islam and based on the fundamental principle of the golden rule. We need to create a movement among all these people who want to join up in some way and regain their faith which in some way has been hijacked.”

The charter would create guidelines as to how to interpret the scriptures working together to create a document that would be signed by at least 1000 of the leaders.

She wants leaders to look at their religion, reclaim it and make religion a source of peace in the world. Organizations like the Alliance of Civilizations at the UN could help to foster this process and establish a neutral voice.

C. Technology, Communication & Community

One thing that she does not cover is the power of technology, communication and community to deliver both the message and vision of leaders from around the world. I’ve talked about this before but technology gives us the tools and makes it possible for us to establish religious and cultural balance in our lifetime.

I’ll discuss more about religious and cultural balance in future posts.

Work-Life Balance - Practical Wisdom versus Bureaucracy, Rules & Incentives

Posted by Kevin Boon. Follow me on Twitter.

Here is a video of Barry Schwartz in a recent talk called The real crisis? We stopped being wise. This talk is a call to bring what Schwartz calls practical wisdom into our world that seems to have gone crazy with bureaucracy, rules and incentives.

Job Descriptions Reflecting Human Interaction

Schwartz sites the example of the job description of a janitor at a hospital and how not a single thing on the job description involves interaction with other human beings. Yet in the reality of a hospital setting and other jobs much of our work (including work of a janitor) involves interaction with human beings.

The Lemonade Story

He relates the story of Dad who unknowingly purchased Mike’s hard lemonade for his 7 year old son at a Detroit Tigers baseball game and the authorities ended up taking away his son. Schwartz says, although there is a place for rules that protect us, many times they prevent us from thinking and they take away our moral skill to make the right decision.

Schwartz says a wise person knows,

• when and how to make the exception to every rule
• how to improvise
• how to use these moral skills in pursuit of the right aims

And finally, a wise person is made not born.

Undermining our Moral Will to do the Right Thing

Society is quick to use rules and incentives and they may work in the short run but Schwartz says, "they create a downward spiral that makes them worse in the long run. Moral skill is chipped away by an over reliance on rules that deprives us of the opportunity to improvise and learn from our improvisations. Moral will is undermined by an incessant appeal to incentives that destroy our desire to do the right thing.”

From a professional level incentives are a war on moral will and do the opposite instead of someone asking “what is my responsibility”, they ask “what is my interest.”

Work-Life Balance & Practical Wisdom

Work-life balance have a direct connection to practical wisdom. Although they have a place companies who get too bogged down in rules, bureaucracy and incentives generally will create an environment where moral will is compromised, competitiveness rules, creativity and teamwork stagnate and overall job satisfaction declines.

Finding innovative ways to bring practical wisdom into our work lives is one way to improve our overall work-life balance.

How do we Re-Moralize Work?

Schwartz closes by saying we need to find ways to re-moralize work and celebrate those who do the right things. Find ways to bring practical wisdom into our jobs and have less reliance on rules, bureaucracy and incentives. Create job descriptions that begin to identify the human part to our responsibilities and enable us to take action because it is right, not because it’s in the rules or if I do it I’ll get paid.

He closes with a quote from Barack Obama who said,
We must ask, not just is it profitable, but is it right.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on the Environment, George W. Bush & Change

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. spoke at a recent conference in Waterloo sponsored by ReThink. Without really knowing much about this man (except for his famous father and uncle) I had no pre-conceived opinions and was simply interested in listening to his message.

Kennedy’s message was about the challenges of environmental politics, corporate & government corruption, education and the decline of the US media to provide an unbiased voice in guiding people to make informed decisions. While he presented these challenges he also proposed solutions and ideas that could revolutionize our ability to create energy from alternative sources and reduce our dependence on foreign oil.

American Democracy in Jeopardy
He said American Democracy is actually in jeopardy due to the actions of the past 8 years. He talked of the Bush Administration’s $100 million dollar PR campaign designed to create phony think tanks, suppress environmental initiatives, promote big oil and influence media to the extent that today most Americans believe the environment is really a "fringe" issue and those supporting the cause are alarmist or radical. The same PR campaign was used to convince people that Sadaam Hussein was somehow responsible for the 9-11 attacks. He said much effort has been put into this PR effort to creating doubt around global warming and that if we move too fast we will disrupt the economy or peoples livelihoods. (Note: For anyone not living under a rock I think we could agree that the current financial crisis has showed that the economy is a little disrupted. Maybe we have nothing to lose.)

Similarities between Global Warming and the Slave Trade
He compared today’s cautious approach to the global warming to that of the slave trade in Britain back in the 1800’s. Slavery back then accounted for 25% of the GNP and politicians and business leaders preached caution saying that if you stopped slavery the economy would suffer. The truth is that after years of debate, when slavery was eventually abolished there was an unprecidented economic boom that became the Modern Industrial Revolution. Kennedy says we would see the same type of boom today if we removed the government subsidization of oil companies and if politicians allowed the free market to foster development of environmental technologies. According to Kennedy the vested interests and government policy are holding us back from making real change with the environment.

Kennedy says there are over $1.3 trillion dollars in subsidies that go to the big oil companies and our reliance on foreign oil makes us the beggar to those nations that can and have been hostile to us. He says the Iraq war has cost $4.5 trillion dollars and he believes for the purpose it served the bill should be charged to big oil, not the US taxpayer.

He used examples of countries who have initiated clean environmental technologies making use of solar, geothermal, bio-fuels and other clean technologies. He referenced Iceland, Sweden, Brazil, and California which he said have created new prosperous economies and opportunities as a result of shifting to alternative energies. (Note: the speech was given before the global financial meltdown of which Iceland’s banking system has been devastated however the message demonstrates that many countries are putting effort into solving the problem).

Creating a Smart Power Grid
Kennedy says the Midwest of the US and Canada is the Saudia Arabia of wind power however to take full advantage of wind and other clean technologies the US will need to find a way to upgrade the power grid so that it is more centralized. Today the power grid in the US is decentralized (controled by each state) and is very difficult for new technologies like wind to connect to the grid and re-sell energy. Kennedy talks about re-building a smart grid where you could take your electric car, plug it in at night and then sell the excess power you generate to the grid. If you think of the possibilities a smart grid would give consumers the abilility to benefit and contribute to power creation.

By giving wind, solar, geothermal and other technologies the ability to evolve within a free market, Kennedy says innovation can evolve. Under George Bush oil subsidization has been the policy at the expense of free market innovation.

Media & Education
The press in the US has been “negligent” and have let down democracy, according to Kennedy. He says in America there is no such thing as a Liberal Media but it’s a label that has been applied to groups that don’t support the right wing message. He says Fox News is the major player dominating the right wing message and talk radio is 90% is controlled by Christian right. He says that ABC, NBC and CNN have no ideology except for their pocket book. He says the failure within the American media started around the time of Ronald Reagan when he abolished the “fairness doctrine” which said news had to be of public importance and if someone told an opinion they had to tell both sides. This is no longer the case. Rush Limbaugh came on the scene shortly after abolishment of the fairness doctrine. He said the fairness doctrine was important to create an independent press to avoid corporate consolidation which Kennedy said was a policy similar to what Hitler promoted in Nazi Germany. In the American media today (main stream) 5 guys control what you hear with the only obligation to their shareholders.

He says entertainment is now the cornerstone of American media and that Americans have become the “best entertained but least informed public”. He says Thomas Jefferson believed that a mandatory public education system would be the remedy to “not deprive the public of power” and that the only way to sustain the democracy was to have access to education “everywhere”. Unfortunately Americans are so poorly educated that polls (in 2004) said that 70% of the population believed that Sadaam Hussain bombed the world trade center.

Kennedy says “if you don’t have a functioning press you don’t have democracy”.

Kennedy says he is an advocate for the free market but there is no free market under the current administration. He says, “a true free market (for environmental technologies) would promote efficiency”. He says there is a huge difference between “free market capitalism” and what he calls, “Corporate Crony Capitalism” as is currently the reality under the current administration.

He says American respect in the world today has diminished. He told a story of when he travelled overseas with his father. People flocked to see Americans and wanted their values and freedoms. He said when Eisenhouer went to Kabul in the 1950’s over a million people came to see him. People are hungry for American freedoms. He said after 9-11 the French President said, “we’re all Americans now.” Much of that goodwill has been lost today.

Footnotes:
This presentation took place on October 6th and in those 3 weeks a lot has shifted. The Global Financial Crisis has impacted everybody and I think it has shocked the US and world into serious re-alignment of not only our financial systems but of our values. The US Presidential Election is getting closer and for the first time in decades offers a vision of hope for the future. Kennedy brought to light some of the challenges we face but he also outlined the opportunities that exist if we choose to change course.

Time will tell if we can put this together, however I think most of us agree we live in exciting times and there are massive changes ahead.
On the same day I finished this article the CBC ran an interview with Kennedy.
Here it is... The Hour

Follow-up to the David Suzuki Post - Take the Nature Challenge

Yesterday I received an email from the David Suzuki Foundation in response to my "If you were Prime Minister" post.  They appreciated the comments and liked my guitar.  :)  They asked me to post a link to one of their programs called the "Nature Challenge".  You will see the link in my sidebar and here is the graphic. 

There are 10 steps that the Suzuki Foundation asks to consider consider supporting. 

1. Reduce home energy by 10%

2. Eat meat-free meals once a week

3. Buy a fuel efficient, low-polluting car

4. Choose an energy efficient home and appliances

5. Stop using pesticides

6. Walk, bike or take transit to regular destinations

7. Prepare your meals with locally produced food

8. Choose a home close to regular destinations

9. Support alternatives to the car

10. Get involved, stay informed. 

For many people this may seem like an onerous task.  We live in a culture based on convenience and it can be difficult for us to make changes.  If you go to the Suzuki website check out each step you'll find the information informative.  I'm doing my best.  There are 6 steps that I can commit to right away.  However I must say that Governments and Corporations could also do a great deal more to help. I feel we are lacking the real leadership that will make it a reality. 

Consider that when John F. Kennedy made his famous speech about putting a man on the moon the Americans had not even sent a man into space.  That was in May 1961 and the Americans were way behind the Russians.  If Kennedy had the same vision as our current leaders he probably would have said something like this, "God it's too expensive!  We'd like to make some changes but dammit it'll just hurt out economy.  We can't lose those jobs?   Space, nobody has ever flown into space!  What it's going to be like on the moon?  I've heard the surface is like mud.  Our men will sink! It'll never work!" 

Our politicians and corporate leaders tend to make a lot of the same excuses.

Thank God in heaven that JFK had the vision and leadership.  Here's his actual quote and a photo of the man.

   

"First, I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the earth. No single space project in this period will be more impressive to mankind, or more important for the long-range exploration of space; and none will be so difficult or expensive to accomplish." John F. Kennedy (May 25, 1961)Source: Wikipedia.org

What is amazing to me is that within 8 years America went from having no real space program to landing a man on the moon on July 20th 1969.  Where there is vision and leadership, there is a solution.  Most people would be amazed at what we could accomplish within 8 years if our leaders were serious about the environment.  Unfortunately, Stephen Harper, George Bush and many others in Ottawa and Washington currently lack that vision and leadership.

If I didn't say it before go to the David Suzuki website and tell the Prime Minister your thoughts. 

http://www.davidsuzuki.org/tour/

Dr. David Suzuki... "If you were Prime Minister Tour"

My Father and I had the opportunity to see Dr. David Suzuki at the University of Waterloo Humanities Theatre on Tuesday.  Dr. Suzuki is on a 50-city cross Canada Tour called If you were Prime Minister. The purpose is to bring awareness and send a message to Ottawa and all politicians, that we need to take action on the environment. 

Environment a Top Priority? - We've Been Down that Road Before

With all the recent publicity around the environment you would think it's now a top priority for our government.  Dr. Suzuki however, reminded us of his "bittersweet" memories from 1988 to 1992. Then, as now the environment was a top priority globally. At that time the Conservatives were in power led by Brian Mulroney.  Dr. Suzuki asked the then Minister of the Environment, Lucien Bouchard what was the most important issue.  Mr. Bouchard responded global warming "threatens the survival of our species".  If you know Mr. Bouchard it is unfortunate that after 1989 and into the 90's he decided to put his focus on other priorities (ie. Quebec Separation).  Everyone else forgot as well, and as Dr. Suzuki pointed out, George Bush Senior was elected with a strong environmental platform in 1988 however soon forgot about it after being elected.  Will we forget again in 2007?

The Costs of Fighting Global Warming

So what are the costs associated with taking action on global warming.  Dr. Suzuki estimates that if we take action, it will cost about 1% of our GDP.  If we do nothing the costs are much greater. He estimates the costs will be higher than the costs of World War I & II combined, and that it will likely destroy the global economy.  He referred to Diane Francis, Rex Murphy and other commentators who frequently complain about the costs.  Today it seems we have mentality unwilling to make sacrifices.  Dr. Suzuki referred to George Bush's statement after 9-11. "Go out and shop!"  When I look back on World War II, the people, governments & corporations all made concessions for the war effort.  My question is have we become too lazy and complacent?  I hope not. 

The Analogy of Sputnik and the Space Race

Someone asked a question about effects dealing with global warming on jobs and the economy.  In response Dr. Suzuki used the analogy of Sputnik.  When the Soviets launched Sputnik back in 1957 everyone was amazed.  For Americans, who were embraced in the Cold War there was fear the Russians were getting ahead in the Space Race.  The Russians sent the first chimp into space, the first man, the first team of cosmonauts and the first woman. The Americans had failure after failure. 

A commitment was made by America to win the Space Race.  Billions of dollars were invested, tens of thousands of jobs created, resulting in amazing new technologies and inventions many of which we use today.  Most will agree that our economy is much better off because we chose to invest money and go into space. 

In my view if we commit to solve our environmental challenges then we will create thousands of jobs and boost the economy through innovations and new technologies that we haven't even thought of.

Dr. Suzuki's Action Steps

So what's Dr. Suzuki's goal?  Visit his website at http://davidsuzuki.org you will find all the details about the work of the Suzuki Foundation.  Here are 3 steps:

1. Vote for the Environment - http://www.davidsuzuki.org/tour/vote.asp

Send an email to all our political leaders telling them your thoughts on the environment. See my note to our politicians below. 

If I Were Prime Minister

"If I were Prime Minister I would eliminate all political parties and all elected politicians would be part of one party with a 4 year mandate.  Without political parties you could focus on governing. 

Currently you all argue among each other and try to win points.  Stephen Harper, those ads suck!  Spend that money on something that helps your constituents.

Second, I would revise our constitution.  We need to write social and environmental responsibility into law.  Governments, Corporations and People need to be responsible for their Eco-Footprint.  Let's do it now and not wait a generation or two when our sons, daughters and grandchildren shake their head in dis-belief of our lack of leadership & vision. 

Stand up and become leaders of this nation and we'll support you."   

2. Make a Video - http://www.davidsuzuki.org/tour/watch.asp

Upload a video and tell the Prime Minister what you would do if you were in his job. 

3. Find and join David on the Road - http://www.davidsuzuki.org/tour/find.asp 

In his closing remark Dr. Suzuki wants 1 million names on a petition to give to Stephen Harper in Ottawa.  He wants the environment to be top priority in our next election.  He figures that if Rick Mercer can get 1 million names on a petition for Stockwell Day (to change his name to Doris), then we should be able to get 1 million names for the environment.

Final Thoughts

David Suzuki is a warrior.  He has been fighting the environmental crusade for the past 40 years. Although I have never spoke with him personally I can imagine his frustration. He must say, what in the world is wrong with these people?   Why don't they see it?  Why won't they do anything about it?  Those are my words not David's but I will commend him for his tenacity and reminding us again of the problems we are facing.   

 

The UN Millennium Project - Countries that have Committed - Part 2

This is Part 2 of this series about the UN Millennium Project.  Here I discuss some of the information from John McArthur's presentation from August 29, 2005 at CIGI.  In this section I plan to include more of my own insights into the challenges that were discussed. Please note these are my reflections and do not represent the opinions of John McArthur or the UN Millennium Project. 

The target of 0.7% is the percent of GNP that developed nations would need to contribute in order to eliminate extreme poverty throughout the world.  The UN, through the support of it's member states has set a goal to have this in place by 2015. 

Source: UN Millennium Project - The 0.7% Target

A. Countries who have made the commitment to 0.7% (by 2015)

• Austria
• Belgium
• Denmark
• Finland
• France
• Germany
• Greece
• Ireland
• Italy
• Luxembourg
• Netherlands
• New Zealand
• Norway
• Portugal
• Spain
• Sweden
• United Kingdom

Source: UN Millennium Project Website.

Here are statistics from 2005.  Source: UN Millennium Project Website.   

Keep in mind for most of these countries this is currently a promise.  Many are not at the 0.7% target today.  However, these 17 countries have made a commitment and acknowledge they can be part of the solution.  The big question mark will be the commitment of the 5 other countries listed below. 

B. Countries who have not signed on to 0.7% targets

• Australia
• Canada
• Japan
• Switzerland
• United States

Source: UN Millennium Project Website.

Note: In the original presentation New Zealand had not committed.  From the UN Millennium website there is conflicting information however it appears they have now made that commitment.  Any clarification would be appreciated.

In Mr. McArthur's presentation he talked specifically to Canada's commitment to 0.7% and stressed the need to let the Canadian government know of the problem and why our commitment is essential.  Paul Martin was in power when this presentation was give. 

I'd like to go a little deeper than John's analysis and give some of my own insights. 

The United States has a great impact on the policies of other countries.  In my opinion if the US were on board then all the other countries would also commit.  We could reach this goal sooner rather than later. 

So what would stop a country from committing to 0.7%? 

1. People & Governments do not feel this is an important issue

There are other pressing issues like terrorism, health care, the environment, the economy or domestic policies.  Along with this idea is the thought, "Why not take care of our own citizens first?"

I'll tackle the first question about priorities.  Solving the problem of world hunger has never been a priority for developed economies. We have built our economies and formulated global trade partnerships largely at the exclusion of these countries.  In some of these countries military dictatorships have been given a playground while we in the west have simply watched the resulting wars, mass killings and resulting starvation. 

Today we have the technology, we have the money to solve the problem and the reality is compared to the wealth of the developed world it is not a lot of money.  For me this is a moral issue around choice. Do we commit or don't we? Recognizing we can first solve the problem and then doing nothing is really a crime of neglect. 

As Mahatma Gandhi once said, "Poverty is the worst form of violence." 

Source: Brainyquote.com and Gandhi - the Movie.

2. Political leaders feel this commitment will not win them any votes

In some countries this is probably true.   This is where real leadership needs to evolve.  We need leaders with vision who can look 20 to 50 years into the future to see a world where there is no more hunger.  To accomplish this in our lifetime would be a truly amazing accomplishment.  For citizens we need to look at ways of making world poverty important to our leaders.  If it were important then my belief is we could find the money today. 

3. Some countries are taking a wait and see approach. 

Countries like Canada, Japan, Australia & Switzerland are all taking a wait and see approach. "Let's see what the US will do and if they're on board then we'll commit", This is close to what they are saying.  In my view this is short sighted and simply shows a lack of leadership.  In International relations I assume issues like .07 are also used as bargaining chips.  IE. We'll commit to this if you give us more grain, etc. 

Again the real issue here is a moral one and by putting their names on the list these countries could send a real message to the US.  "You're either with us or against us."  Source: George Bush

That quote above is said more in jest.  I have nothing against the US.  Personally I feel America's positive contribution to the world is important.  I'll touch on this topic more in a future post. 

4. Why just the Developed World?  Why not China, India, Russian & other Developing Countries?

This is an excellent point and one that I feel needs to be addressed.  Yes these countries are currently considered tier 2 or developing countries, however their impact on the world stage is growing.  One recommendation I would make is to look at how the developing world can begin contributing.  One idea - if it's not 0.7% how about 0.2%?  There are many ways we can begin to put more responsibility on the emerging nations of the world. 

As a wrap up 2007 is a critical time for the world.  With our global economies, technologies and communication we are beginning to see that we have more control and choice over solving the worlds problems.  Organizations like the UN Millennium Project and others need our support and understanding.  As we recognize that as nations and individuals that we really do have the ability to solve these challenges then the momentum to solve these challenges will increase.  This is already happening and despite the nay sayers the word is getting out. 

In Part 3, which will be my final post on John McArthur's presentation, I will talk about his observations relating practical approaches for eradicating diseases like HIV, Malaria and we can all contribute in some way to solve this challenge.   

The UN Millennium Project - The Goal of 0.7% - Part 1

Here is an article I wrote over a year ago about a presentation given by John McArthur from the UN on August 29, 2005.  It was not published because I really had no forum with which to publish it and I did not understand this world of blogging when I originally wrote the article.  So here is the first official publication of what I had to say over a year ago about this eye opening lecture. 

John W. McArthur who is the Deputy Director of the UN Millennium Project gave a lecture recently at the Center for Governance & Innovation (CIGI) in Waterloo, Ontario. 

The topic of discussion was "Ending Poverty: What Canada Could Do".  At the beginning of the presentation he provided an overview of where the world is with respect to per capita wealth.  He split his analysis into 3 tiers:

Tier 1: The Developed World - The includes the US, Canada, Western Europe, Japan, Australia & New Zealand.  Their population is about 1 billion people and their net per capita income is about $30,000 per year (in US dollars)

Tier 2: The Developing World - This probably takes on the bulk of other countries and includes the powerhouses of China, India plus many other countries that have developing economies and are emerging on the world stage.  These countries represent about 4 billion people and their net per capita income is about $5,000 per year.

Tier 3: The Underdeveloped World - This group includes those countries, many of them in Africa, South American and through parts of Asia which represents about 1 billion people.  The average per capita income in these countries is about $500 per year and in some countries as low as $100 per year. 

John's presentation was focused on this tier 3 group in the underdeveloped world.  He talked about the dire conditions that exist for these people and their daily challenges that include lack of food, lack of medicines and health care for healing curable diseases like malaria and aids.  There was also discussion that to build these societies one must be willing to look at building the infrastructure of education and develop business & trading relationships.  He didn't talk about legal systems or political systems but I'm assuming at some stage these would be important. 

What is 0.7%?

This is the percent of GNP of rich nations that is required to reach the UN Millennium Project goals.  Originally set out by Kofi Annan in 2002, the goals of the project are to eliminate extreme hunger and poverty by the year 2015.  For full details you can visit the UN Millennium Goals website but here is a general overview:

Goal 1: Eradicate Extreme Hunger and Poverty

Goal 2: Achieve Universal Primary Education

Goal 3: Promote Gender Equality and Empower Women

Goal 4: Reduce Child Mortality

Goal 5: Improve Maternal Health

Goal 6: Combat HIV/AIDS, Malaria and other diseases

Goal 7: Ensure Environmental Sustainability

Goal 8: Develop a Global Partnership for Development

Source: UN Millennium Project Website

What amazed me about these goals was Mr. McArthur's statement that for the first time in world history we actually have the ability and know the amount of money required to solve the main problems of world hunger and disease.  The other point that many people may find baffling is that it doesn't necessarily have to cost a lot. 

I'm not sure if someone has some real statistics but I'm guessing that the .07 figure is less than the US Administration spends in Iraq in one year. 

There's a second & third section to this article and John's lecture.  In part 2 I'll talk about "The UN Millennium Project - Countries that have Committed"