Notes on New Years

Friday, January 02, 2009

A few observations from New Years eve as I sat quietly consuming all that TV had to offer.

1.  Everything is Brought To You By something else.  Originality is dead and everything is for sale.  People kissing in Time Square is brought to you by Scope.  If it can be, it is sold.  I think we will see some reaction to this.

2.  The Dick Clark's Rockin' New Years Even with Ryan Seacrest Prime Time logo was as ridiculously convoluted as the name.

3.  Pepsi won the night with the most overwhelingly positie spots of the night.

4.  There was a fair amount of guilt this year for being ostentatious.   Seacrest seemed to be almost apologetic as he explained that the lights were LEDs and what their footprint was.  Forgive us.

5.  But the night seemed to do its job.  The next day there were plenty of emails with the general sentiment that people "glad 2008 is over" - as if midnight was magic.  But we need those moments.  We need to create time and space of change.  Time Sq. is a perfect representation of that.  We are a myth-based society that needs ritual as badly as any one before us.  New Years highlights this.

Deflation Today... Ecoflation Tomorrow

Thursday, December 11, 2008

We’ve heard of (and felt) deflation lately, but what about “ecoflation”?  A recent study shows that certain consumer goods (like cereal) will be more expensive in the future due to climate change impacts.

According to the study, companies that sell certain types of consumer products (like  food, beverages, household products) could face significant earnings reductions if they don’t implement sustainable environmental strategies.  Mr. Andrew Aulisi, director of WRI’s Markets and Enterprise Program said, “The Ecoflation scenario is a vision of a future where companies have to deal with environmental costs previously borne by society.”

The analysis, called “Rattling Supply Chains: The Effect of Environmental Trends on Input Costs to the Fast Moving Consumer Goods Industry” was performed by the World Resources Institute (the same folks who brought us the Greenhouse Gas Protocol) and A.T. Kearney, Inc. Read more about the report here.

seachange

Thursday, November 27, 2008

A British Court recently acquitted six Greenpeace volunteers for attempting to shut down a coal-fired power plant on the grounds that they had a "lawful excuse" because the coal plant was causing so much property damage around the world due to global warming that it exceeded the property damage done through shutting operations of the coal plant.

See the full story here:

Tribute

Thursday, November 27, 2008

When people come together in tribute to an idea, amazing things can happen.  Happy Thanksgiving.

Billy Preston, Eric Clapton, Ringo Starr, Paul McCartney, Dhani Harrison and a slew of other friends of ex-Beatles George Harrison perform his hit single "My Sweet Lord" in the Concert for George.