Consciousness as a “Business Model”
I was recently talking with a friend about a few different businesses he is involved with. I'm not going to say what businesses or which friend as I don't want to personalize it or create a sense of scapegoating. One business he spoke of as having a model based on a local/eco-friendly approach. Conversely, other business interests of his had no such vision. In this case the local/eco-friendly approach is done based simply on economic sense. People like to pay a higher price for the local/eco-friendly business instead of from a different business that doesn't take the same sustainable approach. Being eco-friendly, in this case, is a matter of capitalist convenience. If more product could be sold by not being eco-friendly, such as other business interests of this same person, then there wouldn't be a point in being eco-friendly in the first place.
It's difficult for me to want to support such businesses. I have various reasons for wanting to support local, eco-friendly businesses when I can and if it's not a local business then I hope for it to be conscious about it's environmental impact and ecological footprint. The world is getting more crowded every day with fewer natural resources to sustain our consumption heavy lifestyles and the effects of our rampant consumerism are being felt in every corner of the globe. To take responsibility for this and change our business practices because it makes ethical sense rather than business sense is an important distinction.
And All This Time I Thought It Was The Monkeys
"Officials from 113 countries agreed Thursday that a much-awaited international report will say that global warming [is] "very likely" caused by human activity, delegates to a climate change conference said.... Four participants told The Associated Press that the group approved the term "very likely" in Thursday's sessions. That means they agree that there is a 90 percent chance that global warming is caused by humans."
CNN.com
Wow. Who knew? Well, it's not definite yet, so there is no need to go trade in your SUV and start investing in weird quack energies like "solar" power or "wind" power… (I will spare you the discussion on teh actual inefficiency of biodiesel…. the white elephant in the room) The report, however, remains in "very likely" status only. Perhaps, when our skin is being fried off by the UV rays, a new report will be issued changing the status from "very likely" to "strong probability"…. sigh…