Leaving the Gready American Machine .. in the dust!!!!
"China has long rejected the Washington Consensus model and modified it to create its path of a social market economy where markets are seen as 'good servants but bad masters.' Europeans favor the mixed social market economy and now most Latin American countries are rejecting the US formulas in favor of the Chinese and European models. In earlier years, the economies of Taiwan, South Korea and Singapore grew on the Asian model of markets steered and regulated by governments.
Socially–responsible pension fund trustees and mutual fund managers launched the United Nations Principles of Responsible Investing representing over $6 trillion in assets. The Carbon Disclosure Project, representing $31 trillion held by global asset managers demands disclosure of carbon emissions. These financiers are giving new meaning to market reform. (see www.ethicalmarkets.com). They demand that companies in their portfolios also focus on making markets more ethical. They employ the new accounting protocols of the "Triple Bottom Line" that go beyond the traditional single bottom line of profit and also improve their governance, social and environmental performance. This is not surprising since today, bad behavior entails new kinds of risk to companies' stock prices: social, environmental and reputational risk, measured by financial services firms such as Innovest Strategic Value Advisors, Truecost and others.
The Information Age has also morphed in to a new Age of Truth, where a company's reputation, precious brands and stock can be broken in real time by negative postings by global watchdog groups such as Corpwatch.org and Global Exchange. Individual investors, making common cause with labor unions, environmentalists and social justice groups have fueled this new definition of market reform, representing $2.3 trillion in assets in the USA alone. Even the Nobel Committee gave its Peace Prize to Mohammad Yunus, banker to the poor.
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Market reform is coming to mean reforming markets and capitalism itself. Would Adam Smith be surprised? Probably not, since he lauded the dynamism of capitalism. Schumpeter later saw the evolution of markets as "creative destruction," as seen today in the new "disruptive" technologies of cleaner, greener energy and resource-use now challenging coal, oil, and nuclear power. The new values and ethical concerns driving the further evolution of capitalism reflect the new imperatives of the 21st century on our small, endangered planet. Smith's famous "invisible hand" turned out to be our own…not some metaphysical force. Guided by our growing human awareness of what we have wrought on this planet and our potential for further development, all our long-term self-interests are now indivisible . Ethics and morality are becoming the new pragmatism.
HAZEL HENDERSON, futurist,syndicated columnist,author of many books including Ethical Markets: Growing The Green Economy (2007), also co-created the Calvert-Henderson Quality of Life Indicators, updated."
Tuesday, April 03, 2007
Bill Moyers What Free Government
Who knows the History, real History? Morality of what? National Security Act of 1947. Arms sales for oil. What's new? What happened to Senator Frank Church??
Sunday, April 01, 2007
Snakes in Suits
In a study of high-performing businesspeople, as many as one of every 30 was found to be a psychopath, a rate several times higher than that of the general population. A psychopath has no conscience and no ability to develop one. We think of psychopaths as serial killers, but in reality, many psychopaths just want money or power. They think nothing of ruining someone else's career if it helps them get ahead.
Example: Frank had a wonderful relationship with his company's CEO until Dave, a recently hired psychopath in his department, started telling the CEO that Frank was criticizing the CEO's leadership behind his back. The CEO believed Dave's lies, fired Frank and gave Dave his job.
IDENTIFYING A PSYCHOPATH
When we first meet psychopaths, we might sense that something isn't quite right, even if they seem friendly. This vague sense of unease could be the primitive part of our brain warning us that we're in the presence of a predator. If at some level you feel there is something wrong with a new coworker, keep an eye out for lies and more subtle deceptions. Psychopaths will...
Find reasons to blame other people whenever anything goes wrong.
Take credit for others' work.
Spread damaging rumors, and try to break down existing friendships.
Quickly deduce coworkers' weaknesses and exploit them.
Bottom Line/Personal interviewed Paul Babiak, PhD, industrial and organizational psychologist and president of HRBackOffice, an executive coaching and consulting firm, Dutchess County, New York. He is coauthor, with Robert D. Hare, PhD, of Snakes in Suits: When Psychopaths Go to Work (ReganBooks).
Friday, March 30, 2007
Fwd: What Happy People Know That You Don't
What Happy People Know That You Don't
I once worked with a woman who vacuumed her house every single morning -- before she left for work. Now I knew this about my colleague only because her young daughter dropped it one day in casual conversation... her attitude being one of "Doesn't everybody?" Well, no, everybody doesn't... but neither does it matter. Still, my colleague considered her cleaning addiction crazy enough that she kept it her little secret. The truth is, every one of us has crazy behaviors and beliefs.
These are what one character in the movie "The Family Stone" referred to as a freak flag. And how much easier it would be, the movie implies, if we all carried around "freak flags" that announced our personal craziness for the world to see.
WHAT IS YOUR FREAK FLAG?
Life coach Lauren Zander of the Handel Group (www.handelgrouppc.com) agrees completely with the concept of flying personal freak flags. Being upfront about our crazy quirks is not only truthful, she says, it also acknowledges that everyone has a variety of them. They belong to and brand us and are the interesting things we do that make us human. She notes that a giant realm of personal craziness includes the category of food and eating -- from chowing down behind closed doors to never co-mingling foods on a plate.
Sexuality is another big area of personal quirks and preferences. Although universal, most people feel too weird about their sexual attitudes and ideas to speak honestly about them. Professional athletes have their crazy secret beliefs about what will help them win a tournament. Children have rituals, objects or imaginary friends they use to help them feel safe. Grown-ups have a wide variety of behaviors or harmless biases they cling to for a bevy of reasons. Example: Ask pack rats why they insist on keeping all that "stuff" with no obvious worth or value.
THE BROTHERHOOD OF MAN
As human beings, we are all in the same interesting and weird boat, Lauren observes, trying to grow up and deal with our small vices -- but at the same time wanting to be "normal" and look good to others. Let it go, she says. Claim the joy to be found in admitting to your quirks. Fessing up to the crazy quirks is funny and freeing and endows people with a new sense of control about their behavior.
Accepting your own quirks also provides an opportunity for a whole new understanding of the quirks and freakiness of your spouse, kids, parents and friends. A huge percentage of marital squabbles involve one spouse's intolerance of the other spouse's quirks -- remember the classic toothpaste tube argument? Everyone around you has his/her own set of quirks that you can either learn to love as part of who that person is... or you can let them drive you crazy. I have a friend who never sends thank you notes -- not even for her wedding or baby gifts. I know that she is a loving and generous and devoted friend. So, I accept that she is not wired to send thank you notes. Some people might sever a relationship over not being thanked and sacrifice all the great things that are part of that lifelong relationship.
FINDING YOUR OWN
It is possible that crazy quirks are so well hidden they are hard even for the individual to find. To find yours, Lauren advises looking first for any behavior or attitude you don't want other people to know about. That is certain to be a freak flag candidate. Another place to look: At your grievances and annoyances about other people. If certain things about others really bug you, chances are strong that there is a little personal freak flag in there. As an example, Lauren notes that arrogance in others makes some people furious, but probably they carry around arrogance themselves, just better disguised. Because people are not generally bothered by behaviors that don't exist somewhere in themselves, being upset is a big signal to go looking at that.
Identifying it and accepting that bit of freakiness will loosen the steam you have built about your grievance and annoyance about others, Lauren says.
It may feel scary to fly a freak flag at first, but be brave. It won't take long to start experiencing the rewards. By admitting to your own craziness you bring a fresh openness in your dialog with others. By acknowledging, for example, that my husband is right in telling me that I sometimes forget things if I don't write them down allows us to have fun with my "forgetful-ism" and also creates a structure in our relationship that supports my need to write things down. It's now a big family loving joke about the notes I leave for myself for fear of forgetting.
Being honest about yourself, stripped of spinning and lying, gives people around you permission to put up their flags as well. Flying the flags breaks down the boundaries between you and the barriers to real human nature -- at last, everyone starts to be who they really are.
What Happy People Know That You Don't
* Meredith Haberfeld, co-founder and CEO, and Lauren Zander, principal, Handel Group Private Coaching (www.handelgrouppc.com).
I once worked with a woman who vacuumed her house every single morning -- before she left for work. Now I knew this about my colleague only because her young daughter dropped it one day in casual conversation... her attitude being one of "Doesn't everybody?" Well, no, everybody doesn't... but neither does it matter. Still, my colleague considered her cleaning addiction crazy enough that she kept it her little secret. The truth is, every one of us has crazy behaviors and beliefs.
These are what one character in the movie "The Family Stone" referred to as a freak flag. And how much easier it would be, the movie implies, if we all carried around "freak flags" that announced our personal craziness for the world to see.
WHAT IS YOUR FREAK FLAG?
Life coach Lauren Zander of the Handel Group (www.handelgrouppc.com) agrees completely with the concept of flying personal freak flags. Being upfront about our crazy quirks is not only truthful, she says, it also acknowledges that everyone has a variety of them. They belong to and brand us and are the interesting things we do that make us human. She notes that a giant realm of personal craziness includes the category of food and eating -- from chowing down behind closed doors to never co-mingling foods on a plate.
Sexuality is another big area of personal quirks and preferences. Although universal, most people feel too weird about their sexual attitudes and ideas to speak honestly about them. Professional athletes have their crazy secret beliefs about what will help them win a tournament. Children have rituals, objects or imaginary friends they use to help them feel safe. Grown-ups have a wide variety of behaviors or harmless biases they cling to for a bevy of reasons. Example: Ask pack rats why they insist on keeping all that "stuff" with no obvious worth or value.
THE BROTHERHOOD OF MAN
As human beings, we are all in the same interesting and weird boat, Lauren observes, trying to grow up and deal with our small vices -- but at the same time wanting to be "normal" and look good to others. Let it go, she says. Claim the joy to be found in admitting to your quirks. Fessing up to the crazy quirks is funny and freeing and endows people with a new sense of control about their behavior.
Accepting your own quirks also provides an opportunity for a whole new understanding of the quirks and freakiness of your spouse, kids, parents and friends. A huge percentage of marital squabbles involve one spouse's intolerance of the other spouse's quirks -- remember the classic toothpaste tube argument? Everyone around you has his/her own set of quirks that you can either learn to love as part of who that person is... or you can let them drive you crazy. I have a friend who never sends thank you notes -- not even for her wedding or baby gifts. I know that she is a loving and generous and devoted friend. So, I accept that she is not wired to send thank you notes. Some people might sever a relationship over not being thanked and sacrifice all the great things that are part of that lifelong relationship.
FINDING YOUR OWN
It is possible that crazy quirks are so well hidden they are hard even for the individual to find. To find yours, Lauren advises looking first for any behavior or attitude you don't want other people to know about. That is certain to be a freak flag candidate. Another place to look: At your grievances and annoyances about other people. If certain things about others really bug you, chances are strong that there is a little personal freak flag in there. As an example, Lauren notes that arrogance in others makes some people furious, but probably they carry around arrogance themselves, just better disguised. Because people are not generally bothered by behaviors that don't exist somewhere in themselves, being upset is a big signal to go looking at that.
Identifying it and accepting that bit of freakiness will loosen the steam you have built about your grievance and annoyance about others, Lauren says.
It may feel scary to fly a freak flag at first, but be brave. It won't take long to start experiencing the rewards. By admitting to your own craziness you bring a fresh openness in your dialog with others. By acknowledging, for example, that my husband is right in telling me that I sometimes forget things if I don't write them down allows us to have fun with my "forgetful-ism" and also creates a structure in our relationship that supports my need to write things down. It's now a big family loving joke about the notes I leave for myself for fear of forgetting.
Being honest about yourself, stripped of spinning and lying, gives people around you permission to put up their flags as well. Flying the flags breaks down the boundaries between you and the barriers to real human nature -- at last, everyone starts to be who they really are.
What Happy People Know That You Don't
* Meredith Haberfeld, co-founder and CEO, and Lauren Zander, principal, Handel Group Private Coaching (www.handelgrouppc.com).
Thursday, March 29, 2007
LiveScience.com - Alarming Decline of Sharks Causing Other Species to Vanish
Oh daaa... Damb can people get really STUPID!!!
LiveScience.com - Alarming Decline of Sharks Causing Other Species to Vanish: "The precipitous decline in large predator sharks in the Atlantic Ocean in the past decade has made ecologists worry about a trickle-down effect on the ocean ecosystem.
A new study supports the case. With the large predators gone, their prey—smaller sharks and rays—are free to feast on lower organisms like scallops and clams, depleting valuable commercial stocks.
“Large sharks have been functionally eliminated from the East Coast of the U.S., meaning that they can no longer perform their ecosystem role as top predators,” said study team member Julia Baum of Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
Disappearing sharks
Shark populations all over the world have plummeted because of intentional fishing for their fins, which are eaten and used for medicines in Asia
For this study, published in the March 30 issue of the journal Science, the researchers looked at surveys of populations of 11 great shark species, conducted between 1970 and 2005. Every species had substantially declined in just those few decades. The smallest observed decline was in sandbar shark populations, which had decreased nonetheless by 87 percent. Other species, including the bull, dusky and smooth hammerhead sharks, may have declined by more than 99 percent.
LiveScience.com - Alarming Decline of Sharks Causing Other Species to Vanish: "The precipitous decline in large predator sharks in the Atlantic Ocean in the past decade has made ecologists worry about a trickle-down effect on the ocean ecosystem.
A new study supports the case. With the large predators gone, their prey—smaller sharks and rays—are free to feast on lower organisms like scallops and clams, depleting valuable commercial stocks.
“Large sharks have been functionally eliminated from the East Coast of the U.S., meaning that they can no longer perform their ecosystem role as top predators,” said study team member Julia Baum of Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
Disappearing sharks
Shark populations all over the world have plummeted because of intentional fishing for their fins, which are eaten and used for medicines in Asia
For this study, published in the March 30 issue of the journal Science, the researchers looked at surveys of populations of 11 great shark species, conducted between 1970 and 2005. Every species had substantially declined in just those few decades. The smallest observed decline was in sandbar shark populations, which had decreased nonetheless by 87 percent. Other species, including the bull, dusky and smooth hammerhead sharks, may have declined by more than 99 percent.
“They’re all down dramatically,” said study co-leader Charles Peterson of the University of North Carolina."
Personal mobility - One Planet Business - WWF Microsites
Oh cool, do I have the solution for YOU... lol...
Personal mobility - One Planet Business - WWF Microsites: "This first project of One Planet Business aims to inspire and catalyse change towards mobility and access solutions within planetary limits.
Passenger transport is placing an ever-growing demand on global resources and the climate’s absorptive capacity. Currently, the final demand for personal mobility represents 26% of the word’s CO2 emissions. Current technological advancements in personal mobility are not keeping pace with the rate of growth or the scale of the challenge, not least the minimum 60% reductions required in CO2 emissions. It seems clear that further solutions have to be explored.
One Planet Business Personal Mobility will explore the fundamental drivers for change, such as:
* identifying the barriers impeding a complete technological revolution for low-carbon mobility;
* exploring the possibilities for switching to low-impact transport and how this could be encouraged;
* questioning the value of such high levels of mobility in promoting a better quality of life and identifying which areas of mobility consumers may actually like to reduce (e.g. commuting);
* understanding how shifts in lifestyles could reduce personal mobility;
* thinking through the economic consequences of changing mobility patterns; and
* exploring access to key services such as shop"
Personal mobility - One Planet Business - WWF Microsites: "This first project of One Planet Business aims to inspire and catalyse change towards mobility and access solutions within planetary limits.
Passenger transport is placing an ever-growing demand on global resources and the climate’s absorptive capacity. Currently, the final demand for personal mobility represents 26% of the word’s CO2 emissions. Current technological advancements in personal mobility are not keeping pace with the rate of growth or the scale of the challenge, not least the minimum 60% reductions required in CO2 emissions. It seems clear that further solutions have to be explored.
One Planet Business Personal Mobility will explore the fundamental drivers for change, such as:
* identifying the barriers impeding a complete technological revolution for low-carbon mobility;
* exploring the possibilities for switching to low-impact transport and how this could be encouraged;
* questioning the value of such high levels of mobility in promoting a better quality of life and identifying which areas of mobility consumers may actually like to reduce (e.g. commuting);
* understanding how shifts in lifestyles could reduce personal mobility;
* thinking through the economic consequences of changing mobility patterns; and
* exploring access to key services such as shop"
Mom's beef puts son's sperm count at stake - Los Angeles Times
I wonder about all the other crap they feed cattle, chickens and fish.. Like the GMO's modified to like more pesticides. . .
Mom's beef puts son's sperm count at stake - Los Angeles Times: "Men whose mothers ate a lot of beef during their pregnancy have a sperm count about 25% below normal and three times the normal risk of fertility problems, researchers reported Tuesday.
The problem may be due to anabolic steroids used in the United States to fatten the cattle, Dr. Shanna H. Swan of the University of Rochester Medical Center reported in the journal Human Reproduction. It could also be due to pesticides and other environmental contaminants, she added.
If the sperm deficit is related to the hormones in beef, Swan's findings may be 'just the tip of the iceberg,' wrote biologist Frederick vom Saal of the University of Missouri-Columbia in an editorial accompanying the paper.
In daughters of the beef-eaters, those same hormones could alter the incidence of polycystic ovarian syndrome, the age of puberty and the postnatal growth rate, he said.
'It's a small effect, but it is a significant effect,' said Dr. Ted Schettler, an environmental health specialist at the Institute for Global Communications in San Francisco. 'It's not surprising. The more you look at dietary factors, the more you turn up interesting information about how diet during pregnancy affects lots of aspects of human health.'"
Mom's beef puts son's sperm count at stake - Los Angeles Times: "Men whose mothers ate a lot of beef during their pregnancy have a sperm count about 25% below normal and three times the normal risk of fertility problems, researchers reported Tuesday.
The problem may be due to anabolic steroids used in the United States to fatten the cattle, Dr. Shanna H. Swan of the University of Rochester Medical Center reported in the journal Human Reproduction. It could also be due to pesticides and other environmental contaminants, she added.
If the sperm deficit is related to the hormones in beef, Swan's findings may be 'just the tip of the iceberg,' wrote biologist Frederick vom Saal of the University of Missouri-Columbia in an editorial accompanying the paper.
In daughters of the beef-eaters, those same hormones could alter the incidence of polycystic ovarian syndrome, the age of puberty and the postnatal growth rate, he said.
'It's a small effect, but it is a significant effect,' said Dr. Ted Schettler, an environmental health specialist at the Institute for Global Communications in San Francisco. 'It's not surprising. The more you look at dietary factors, the more you turn up interesting information about how diet during pregnancy affects lots of aspects of human health.'"
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