I love Mark&Spencer Plan A campaign. They have called it Plan A because, as far as  sustainability issues is concerned, there is no  Plan B. The retail company has set itself 100 objectives to be achieved within a period of five years. To communicate this campaign, they have created a site where consumers can participate and contribute their own pledges. I´ve already completed my first one: to start using  reusable shopping bags.

The company`s compromise rests on five pillars:

• Become carbon neutral
• Send no waste to be dumped in landfills
• Extend sustainable sourcing
• Help improve the lives of people in their supply chain
• Help customers and employees lead a healthier life-style

They have already achieved some results: a   70% reduction  in the use of plastic bags in their stores by charging the customers 5 p. for each bag.

Here you can see a video about Plan A:

Our review:

• Too many flashy images everywhere. I prefer sites that keep it simpler!
• Few participation opportunities and no social media features.

In 1998, aircraft designer Paul MacCready shares his vision of an earth out of balance, and talks about the steps he’s taking in his own work to help solve it — by building amazing solar airplanes, superefficient gliders and an electric car. It’s a stirring vision of how all of us, no matter what our profession, can help make change.

Via: TED | TEDBlog: Nature vs. humans (and what I’m doing about it): Paul MacCready on TED.com

“To be whole. To be complete. Wildness reminds us what it means to be human, what we are connected to rather than what we are separate from.” - Terry Tempest Williams

I read this morning in Tree Hugger that Wal-Mart awarded HP for the design of a laptop bag Tthat cuts the conventional packaging a 97 %. The laptop comes in a reusable bag from 100 percent recycled fabric.

Besides, they achieved the goal of placing three computers in one shipping box:

I was also surprised to read a critic on Wal-Mart abusive use of plastic bags. Here in Argentina, they have developed the use of a 100% biodegradable plastic bag.

More than 3 million people have seen it. Many others have taken the trouble of translating it into their own languages. “The Story of Stuff” was written by Annie Leonard and produced by Free Range Studios, the makers of other socially-minded, web-based films such as “The Meatrix” and “Grocery Store Wars.”

The Story of stuff is an example on how some messages spread through the web much like a virus. And most importantly, this hard information, which is the downside of our patterns of production and consumption , can be explained in a simple, amusing way.

Here is the first episode:

You can see the complete 20 minutes version here:

The Story of Stuff

As a kid I always had a fascination for trees, as they provided a whole new dimension to imagination. As soon as my feet were airborne, my mind entered their worlds, in which I could climb steep mountain summits or defend the walls of a foreign legion fortress in the desert of Sahara.
As it is, each tree presents a small world in itself, an ecosystem that gives life and nourishes the earth. They are a clear example of the meaning of sustainability. They use the sun as an energy source to create nutrients and give shelter to hundreds of different species of animals, birds and microorganisms. They produce oxygen, process CO2, filter water and prevent erosion.

Nothing is lost, everything is accounted for and utilized to generate and maintain life. There is no scrap, no waste. Under their shadow, and from their fruits, the cycle of life continues for other species as well as their own.

Recently and thanks to the effort of Greenpeace, more 1,500,000 people committed to get the attention of the Government in focusing on a law against the depredation of native forests.

The country took conscience of the situation of our trees: In Argentina the annual deforestation is close to 600,000 acres, probably in line with the worldwide expansion of agriculture that has cut down 80% of all native forests and keeps a pace of 2,000 trees per minute in the Amazon.

It seems that the old bequest of planting a tree, having a child and writing a book no longer suffices.  Preserving a tree has become an important necessity in order for our children to create their “own worlds” and enjoy our current one.

Carolina, my granny, used to ask me to go with her to the grocery store. We lived in a province city and those were different times.

So, go tho the grocery store meant buying vegetables, meat, bread and different kinds of food from different places, going from one place to another. We stayed a while in each place: my granny chose the apples, she smelt them, she spoke to the shopkeeper (that always had something nice to say to her) and just then, she paid and we moved on.
The same happened in the drugstore, the bakery and so on.
Nobody, in any store, gave plastic bags to us. It was not an ordinary thing. It was not a habit.
I carried her fabric, colored bag. To me, it was a show of strength and feminine vigor, no matter that I weighed 35 kilos and was pure fringe and bones.
Things have changed.
Now I go shopping to the grocery store on my own and anywhere I go, no matter what I buy (aspirins, candies or lemons), everybody takes its own plastic bag.
In the streets, people carry their plastic bags that will later go to the trashcan or will join owners as they walk their dogs.
Each of those plastic bags takes a hundred years to decompose into tiny little toxic pieces. Many are hooked in trees. Many others fall into the rivers, lakes and seas, and keep floating like abandoned ships.
Here at Odiseo we believe there are habits we can change. And those habits that raise awareness are very contagious.
That’s why we want to invite our friends and readers to join the No Uso Bolsas Plásticas (I Don’t Use Plastic Bags) campaign. In this way, we will all help reduce the use of plastic bags and stamp them out our lives.
The Official No Uso Bolsas Plásticas website is alredy online. And there is a cause in Facebook, with 779 active members and a fotolog too.
Finally, for those who want to take the campaign everywhere, El Viaje de Odiseo has launched its own bags. These bags were manufactured by La Alameda cooperative, and stamped with non-toxic water inks.

We can all help to build a cleaner city, and a safer world.

Do you join us?

“Poverty is unnecesary. People are able to get themselves out of poverty. All they need is opportunity. They are not expecting charity or instructions. Charity is good, but it´s not enough. If you turn it into a business proposal, then it is very powerful as it can work by itself”.

Muhamad Yunus. Founder of the Grameen Bank and Nobel Peace Laureate.

}

“Inclusive business” is a hype expression used to define a new concept of economic activities that go beyond fair trade. It is about carrying out new profitable business projects, which foster ecological and social responsibility and, at the same time, uses the mechanisms of the market to improve the standard of living of low-income people.

The “Inclusive Bussiness.org” has originated from the alliance between the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) and SNV Netherlands Development Organization. Inclusive Business.org aims to spread news and promote cases that show this trend.
According to a brochure published by this organization, the low-income segments of the society participate in inclusive business in two ways:
1. Members of the production chain: as suppliers of raw materials, distributors and parts of the workforce.

2. Consumers: in those initiatives that make goods and services affordable for low-income communities.

The good news is that, first and foremost, inclusive business represents a great opportunity for many social actors. Our own experiences in our consulting firm with the project “I don’t use plastic bags poverty, creating their own opportunities to work in a decent “, in which cooperative La Alameda takes part, and our alliance with the cooperative El Ceibo to recycle, have showed us the value in this kind of organizations. They consist of people with a vision, that have madeofenvironment.

Conversely, the other form that inclusive business has taken reveals some aspects that stir some controversy. It holds the belief that the poor of Latin America and other emergent markets should become consumers. This is actually an old idea, first promoted by Henry Ford at the beginning of the XX century. In more recent years, we have witnessed the negative results of this economic model, which has proved to be ecologically unsustainable. Tackling poverty in our century involves more profound changes in the ways we produce and consume.

Another issue that deserves serious consideration is what we really mean in terms of goods and services when we discuss the possibility of including the low-income segments of the society in the market as consumers. I became aware of this on reading an article in The Guardian :“Latin America’s poor provide rich pickings”, which was quoted in the web site of Inclusivebusiness.org. The article cites the case of Ignia, a mexican company that sells health care to poor people in that country as a “best practice”. Something similar happens in my country. Since public hospitals are overcrowded and people must wait weeks to get a medical appointment, they end up paying for private doctors.
Taking advantage of this problem, companies that offer pre-pay clinic service at affordable prices have appeared. They are quite profitable but they represent only a patch. The actual fact is that the state is neglecting one of its basic obligations.
The appearance of these private companies that profit from the skinny pockets of the poorest (also called business at the bottom of the pyramid), making them pay for something they should by law receive for free is anything but good news. The society, the companies and the social entrepreneurs owe themselves a profound debate on which course of action ought to be taken to tackle poverty and define the roles of the private and the public sectors to achieve this.

The work from the Commoncraft crew is a classic for all of us who are trying to understand what the web 2.0 is all about. In the series of videos “In Plain English”, Commoncratf explains to us, in a very simple way, the concepts, tools and philosophy of all things 2.0.

But recently, this super creative team has decided to expand the reach of its work to include other concepts, such as sustainability, explaining with its unique style the positive impact produced by the replacement of incandescent light bulbs for CFL bulbs, or Compact Fluorescent Bulbs.

What are you waiting for? Lighten up!