[Victoria BC 01-28-12] Business and innovation with a conscience can bring crazy change to our world. I encountered Bjarke Ingels on a TED video and was very inspired and hopeful. Bjarke is one of those innovators. His brilliance is clear. He believes that triple bottom line, economic, environment and social sustainability is attainable and does not have to be painful. Too often conversations about sustainable development tend towards a focus on giving up certain luxuries and spiralling costs. Bjarke demonstrates that lifestyle quality and smart economics could result when making choices towards sustainability. Below is a brief two minute video giving an overview of his philosophy,’Hedonistic Sustainabilty’.
His architectural firm BIG has completed several projects in Denmark over the past ten years. His first project in North America will be in Manhattan and has already broken ground. Below is the complete twenty minute TED presentation from May 2011 in New York. Bjarke shares several examples of projects that have been completed or in development.
[Victoria BC 01-26-12] Apple and many other tech companies were hit hard after the news report indicting them of partnering with companies in China that operate with exploitive labour practices. The biggest story recently was Foxconn and reports of worker suicides because of long hours and incredibly detailed by hand processes repeated hundreds/thousands of times every hour with no breaks.
Apple has made the decision to take the first step towards accountability in partnering with companies that practice fair labour. FINALLY, a tech company steps up. It makes sense that Apple would be the first one. Being located in the Bay Area in California which cuturally embraces equality and awareness towards injustice lends towards a company having people in leadership with a conscious. Mind you it took some uncovering in the media to take the first steps but better now than possibly never. Good on you Apple to take the first steps.
For the first time, Apple has disclosed the identity of 156 suppliers, and said it will become the first tech company to join the Fair Labor Association (FLA). This means that the FLA will investigate Apple suppliers and issue regular reports on their labor practices.
“We’re extremely proud to be the first technology company admitted to the FLA,” said Jeff Williams, Apple’s senior vice president of Operations.
“Last year we performed more than 200 audits at our supplier’s facilities around the world. With the benefit of the FLA’s experience and expertise, we will continue to drive improvements for workers and provide even greater transparency into our supply chain.”
Apple can now claim it is the world’s first fair trade electronics maker, which sets a higher bar for competitors.
[Ottawa ON 01-19-12] Green Leader Elizabeth May sees the Obama Administration refusal of the Keystone Pipeline as an opportunity to create Canadian jobs. “We should now pause and re-think shipping our unprocessed crude to either the US or China. We can refine that oil here and use it domestically or export the finished product, creating jobs in the process and ensuring environmental controls,” said May, MP for Saanich-Gulf Islands.
Yesterday, US President Obama denied the construction permit for the 1,700-mile Keystone pipeline, which was heavily opposed due to potential risks of contamination along its route. “We now have an opportunity to rethink our ad hoc energy policy. Lacking any explicit policy, the implicit policy appears to be to expand the tar sands as fast as possible while shipping out unprocessed bitumen crude for value added-elsewhere,” said May.
“While the Harper government tries to portray the issue of pipelines as the environment versus the economy, the reality is that these pipelines do not make economic sense. There is more potential for jobs if we keep and refine the existing bitumen in Canada. It is critical to freeze any new growth of the oil sands allowing value-added processing. The reason oil companies don’t build refineries near the tar sands now has been described by former Alberta Premier Peter Lougheed as due to ‘the traffic jam.’ Due to the hyper-inflationary situation created by unconstrained growth in the Athabasca region, labour and capital are in short supply and very expensive for other installations.” said May. “We need to begin the shift away from fossil fuels. Slowing the tar sands, shutting down coal-generated electricity, and diversifying our energy resources by expanding geo-thermal, solar, wind, tidal and small scale hydro, as well as investing in intensive energy efficiency improvements will create more jobs across Canada than the pipeline proposals, while giving us greater energy security and reduced greenhouse gases.”
The Green Party is advocating increased environmental responsibility of oil sands developers and placing a moratorium on further oil sands development (i.e. increases in annual production). Slowing the over-heated economy will allow refineries to be built in Alberta. The major energy union operating in the Athabasca region, the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union, has estimated that the Keystone Pipeline represents the export of more than 40,000 Canadian jobs. “Canadian jobs in upgrading and refining will literally go down the pipe to the U.S. with the 900,000 barrels of unrefined bitumen,” said Dave Coles, CEP President. “Meanwhile, Canadian refineries are closing.”
The proposed Keystone Pipeline would have run to the US Gulf Coast to refineries there. “We have a chance here to focus on building a secure energy economy. Fifty-five per cent of the oil used in Canada comes from Venezuela, Nigeria and other OPEC nations. From parts of Ontario east, Canadians have no access to the oil our Prime Minister is so keen to pump south to create jobs in Texas. What’s wrong with this picture?” asked Elizabeth May.
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[Victoria BC 01-15-12] From our experience there are a select number of companies out there who are taking the long road in building products with integrity and value. There are too many fashion manufacturers and retail stores that are playing the short game; leveraging the socially conscious marketing opportunity regarding organic and fair fashion solely for profit, unable to tap into deeper values that resonate with consumers. It is seen everyday in the stores we shop at… even W@|_m*r† has organic cotton. As a store owner researching and making decisions on who to partner with when we were in retail fashion there were only a few companies that set themselves apart as sincere about fair + eco fashion.
Indigenous Designs is one of those few that I was clearly impressed with. I was able to meet with Matt Reynolds, CEO & Co-founder. The story of how Scott and Matt discovered and had taken the long journey before fair + sustainable was even a thought in the mainstream of culture and market provokes respect and appreciation. They trekked through villages in the Andes inviting women to become part of sewing collectives to earn fair wages for their labour to make beautiful products brought to the western market. They continue to write an incredible story with a balance between values and profitability.
The two minute video below was just recently posted by Indigenous and I thought it was a very clear way of communicating the values that not only represent Indigenous Designs but also encounter earth. Enjoy!
[Victoria BC 01-05-12] Patagonia is a clothing company that encounter earth partnered with in our short time in retail. When we were researching regarding clothing manufacturing companies that aligned in similar values with encounter earth we discovered that Patagonia had been doing fair + sustainable for decades. Far ahead of his time Yvon Chouinard, the founder of Patagonia believed in triple bottom before it became accepted and cool.
Yvon Chouinard, founder of Patagonia
Now Patagonia has taken the quantum leap as they have taken advantage of new laws enacted in California as of Jan 1, 2012. The ‘Benefit Corporation a new legal structure that gives directors legal cover to consider social and environmental missions over financial returns.’ YES, this is an actual law in place in state of California. This is the stuff we talk/dream about day in and day out here at encounter earth.
Thank you Patagonia for inspiring us! Keep pushing the edge in the midst of being an international, global company with a conscience.
[Victoria BC 01-01-12] Our (Paul & Corey) former real estate lawyer back in the 90s and early 00s in the Fraser Valley just east of Vancouver, Canada is now the Minister of International Trade & Minister for the Asia-Pacific Gateway for the Government of Canada. Ed Fast is carrying out the wishes of the majority party, the Conservative Party of Canada and their leader/Prime Minister Stephen Harper. They believe that unlocking trade barriers is key to the future of Canada successfully participating in this global economy.
Here at encounter earth we believe that trade barriers which include 15-20% tariffs most often penalize those who are the most vulnerable, the worker who works for pennies on the dollar. Any removal of these barriers translates beneficially for those who are participating in direct trade. More dollars can go back into the economy of the developing nation. We applaud Canada’s effort to engage in removing these trade tariff barriers.
[Victoria BC 12-28-11] This has been a quiet year at Encounter Earth. If I were to choose a word “fallow” comes to mind. Leaving the ground completely alone. Not working the soil. In fact, it was a year of offloading our retail POS equipment and the last of the inventory that we had at the Canmore store. A letting go with a not sure of when or if ever.
In retrospect 2011 was too quiet as the dream of direct trade and advocating in business was parked on the side of the road. A holding pattern… Paul is working hard in business developing sales in book publishing and managing a brilliant sales team in downtown Victoria. Corey is working at a B&B while Bernie and Marlene continue to develop Pine Lodge. We are all learning much and hoping more.
We are believing that 2012 may be a year that a few sparks could fly; some connections made with like-minded people and organizations. Encounter Earth is about direct trade… making the retail market available to those who are exploited and living in poverty. Creating a fair + sustainable connection. Patience is key in today’s economy… so we wait.
[Victoria BC 04-02-11] It has been a while since the last update. We are still getting our feet on the ground here on Vancouver Island. Paul has been developing a sales system and overseeing a sales team at FriesenPress in downtown Victoria. Corey has been busy with our family while Bernie and Marlene our making upgrades to their new property. It is hard to believe that we are three months from our first anniversary of making the move back to the Pacific coast.
We are planning to have some updates regarding the next steps of encounter earth sometime in early May. Please come back for some announcements. We are continuing to build relationships in Haiti, Dominican Republic, Colombia and Peru. If you have experience in fashion design and would like to assist encounter earth in the future please send us a message via the contact page.
[Cowichan Bay BC 10-31-10] Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and Heads of State and Government, along with the private sector, foundations, international organizations, civil society and research organizations, today kicked off a major concerted worldwide effort to accelerate progress on women’s and children’s health.
With pledges of more than $40 billion over the next five years, the Global Strategy for Women’s and Children’s Health has the potential of saving the lives of more than 16 million women and children, preventing 33 million unwanted pregnancies, protecting 120 millions of children from pneumonia and 88 million children from stunting, advancing the control of deadly diseases such as malaria and HIV/AIDS, and ensuring access for women and children to quality facilities and skilled health workers.
“We know what works to save women’s and children’s lives, and we know that women and children are critical to all of the MDGs,” Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said. “Today we are witnessing the kind of leadership we have long needed.”
[Canmore AB 06-23-10] In September of 2000, the United Nations addressed the issue of global poverty by adopting the Millennium Declaration. The declaration pledged the members to accomplish measurable goals to eradicate global poverty by the year 2015. The Millennium Development Goals focus on eight areas of concern, including poverty and hunger, universal education, maternal health, and HIV/AIDS prevention, among others.
With the deadline now only five years away, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon has called upon world leaders to attend a summit this September to assess and accelerate the progress towards reaching these goals. From un.org: “Coming amid mixed progress and new crises that threaten the global effort to halve extreme poverty, [Mr. Ban says,] ‘The summit will be a crucially important opportunity to redouble our efforts to meet the goals,’ […] by the 2015 deadline.”
With such mixed progress, how will the goals be met? Microfinance can contribute to many of these goals, making it an important tool in reaching these targets in the developing world. Although not specifically stated in the Millennium Development Goals, microfinance has proven to be a strong mechanism for achieving its mission. Addressing nearly every target, microfinance breaks through the many elements of poverty inherent in the eight goals.
“Microfinance is much more than simply an income generation tool,” says Mark Malloch Brown, administrator of the UN Development Programme (UNDP). “By directly empowering poor people, particularly women, it has become one of the key driving mechanisms towards meeting the Millennium Development Goals, specifically the overreaching target of halving extreme poverty and hunger by 2015.”
