Thinking Ethics

Ethics and CSR social networks

Antoine sent in the following links - all interesting.

http://ethicalsupplychain.ning.com/

http://www.actics.com/

http://www.corporateculture.co.uk/changeforgood/index.php

http://www.justmeans.com

More on anti-consumerism

This trend is not new - remember Dr Martin Luther Kings "move from a thing-oriented society to a person-oriented society". Other famous persons who have spoken out on anti-materialism are St Francis of Assisis and Mohamed Gandhi: they pushed for a simpler lifestyle.

So the big guidelines of this sociopolitical mouvement are:

1. Save the planet and all its life forms from a global environmental collapse fueled by spreading hyper-consumers.

2. Increase individual happiness and fullfilment by encouraging simplicity (reducing waste, cruelty and suffering)

3. Preserve the planet's spiritual and cultural traditions in the face of global consumerism.

Some of the adherents are moving into environmental activism, anti-globalism and animal rights activism.

Anti-consumerism

Most of us have made new year's resolutions, which we have every intention of keeping, but which we will probably abandon by Easter. But one group managed to keep theirs all during 2007, and there seems to be quite a few groups following in their footsteps. About 50 friends in San Francisco  at end 2006 decided on a dare to go 6 months without buying anything new (exceptions food, health, safety and underwear), and extended it to one year. They called it the Compact and felt it allowed them to go beyond recycling, to reduce clutter and waste in their homes and to simplify their lives. The nice side effects are that it allows them to save money, to rebel agains consumerism, to be environmentally friendly, to be less dependent on department stores and to reduce their environmental footprint. The mouvement has caught on and there are chapters everywhere, even on Yahoo! and even has its own church: the Reverend Billy of the Church of Stop Shopping. There is a good explanation of the various terms and trends on the BBC website.

I don't know what this will do to the US economy which is in slowdown mode, but given the sub-prime crisis and the debt situation of many individuals, it is probably not a bad resolution to make.

Save the planet stories

If you are interested in the movers and shakers who have spoken up throughout history to save the planet, then you might be interested in this book by Kevin Desmond, "301 Extraordinary Environmentalists".  link here

Green Accountability

Corporations and consumers spent $ 54 million last year in carbon offsets. And as many more companies start offering them, some people are wondering where the money is going and how effective the programs really are. The US Federal Trade Commission is worried about misleading advertising, and is taking a closer look at the subject. So from green advertising to greenwashing ? A very good article in the New York Times "FTC asks in carbon offset money is well spent" was published today with lots of examples and links.

Medical ethics site

Fred sent in this link on BBC radio 4 with the comment "very authoritative and serious show devoted to medical ethics, and where one can download the radio programs for free. Link here.

The current posting is on testing a patient for aids without his consent.

More 2007 rankings

The CRO has come out with its choice of 10 best corporate citizens by industry, and the top three are Eaton (autos and vehicles), Intel and Union Pacific. Full details here.

The Swiss based ethical ranking company Covalence has just published its third annual ranking, and the top three in the best reported ethical performance are Walmart, Coca Cola and Toyota. The three best ethical progress are Toyota, Marks and Spencer and IBM. Full report here.

The methodology of both rankings is very different, so you might want to spend a few minutes checking it out in order to understand what criteria were used.

15 best ethical leaders of 2007

Ethical Corporation has published list of the 15 best ethical leaders for 2007. In the Business leader category, the number one spot goes to Stuart Rose, CEO of Marks & Spencer, UK. In the Unsung heros category, Chris Harrop, Marketing director of UK Stone Company gets first mention. Under Civil society and media we have Chris Avery, Founder of Business-humanrights.org, and under Politicians the top spot goes to Neelie Kroes, the European Union Competition Commissioner. And oh yes, Bill Clinton is on the list. A special mention is made of Al Gore. Full list and justifications for their choice here.

More interestingly, if you look at the stats of where they are working / come from: 6 come from the UK, two each from the US, Holland, and Australia. One from the Philippines, one from Hong Kong and one from France. Are we looking at an English speaking, anglo-saxon, protestant bias here ? Do we really have the lead in US, UK, Australia and Northern Europe (Scandinavia and Holland) in CSR ? Do we not have good coverage of the press in other places and so no examples from Africa, South America or most of Asia. Maybe we need to look harder... But inspiring choices nevertheless, and a good read.