Forum For The Future & Green Futures

Clothing the future: fashion's next generation goes green

Vicky Murray — Wed, 23 May 2012 10:44:35 +0000

I remember the first time I learnt about sustainable business at University – it was a day that changed my life. If I’d skipped that lecture on ‘business and the environment’ back in 2001, I probably wouldn’t be doing what I’m doing today. This is why I’m personally so excited about our Fashion Futures education module and how it’s now being used across the world to help create ‘eureka!’ moments for our next generation of fashion designers.

Over the last couple of months Louise and I, who worked on Fashion Futures back when we started in 2008, have spent a couple of sessions with with James Butler and Judy Fitzgerald who runs the BA (Hons) Fashion Design and Development at the London College of Fashion. It’s been brilliant.

A welcome distraction

Katie Shaw — Fri, 18 May 2012 15:33:26 +0000

I came nerve-janglingly close to missing my train from Brighton on Tuesday. I suspect that many of the 27,000 people who pass through the station every day will do the same over the coming year. Not because of meetings overrunning, or long queues at ticket barriers. No, there’s an altogether different – and more welcome – reason.

Carbon Neutrality: back from the dead?

Iain Watt — Fri, 18 May 2012 14:23:23 +0000

In 2008, Forum for the Future and Clean Air-Cool Planet released Getting to Zero: Defining Corporate Carbon Neutrality.

It created a bit of a buzz when released – it even got described as ‘nothing less than Gospel to those who have been grappling with such issues’ by Joel Makower.

But then neutrality seemed to lose its fizz, and inquiries about the report pretty much dried up. Maybe our challenge that achieving neutrality should be a dynamic, ongoing process (rather than a one-off exercise in offsetting) scared companies away. Or, more likely, companies started to look elsewhere to demonstrate leadership on climate change.

From coca to cocoa to carbon: future livelihoods for jungle communities

Geraldine Gilbert — Mon, 14 May 2012 09:40:55 +0000

I definitely wasn't expecting to find PowerPoint in the Peruvian jungle. But when I arrived at a community meeting in the village of Pucallpillo a few weeks ago, everyone was busy agreeing which photos to include and who would present the official slides to any visitors. Pucallpillo wants to tell the world its story, starting with anyone who cares to stop by there.

It's just one of many places along the Alto Huayabamba river that emerged relatively recently from intensive illegal coca production, and whose inhabitants now grow organic cocoa instead. Earning enough from that to keep coca out for good, repairing damaged soils and protecting their cocoa trees from climate change are all big concerns for the residents.

Harvesting cocoa

Big Green Week challenges nation to inspiring green action

Paul Rainger — Fri, 04 May 2012 17:03:45 +0000

If I am honest, I have to admit that even I am quite surprised that Bristol’s BIG Green Week 2012 this June has turned out to be… well simply huge.

When I first suggested to Forum’s CEO Peter Madden and Founder Director Jonathon Porritt nearly two years ago that we create the UK’s annual festival for sustainability, I don’t think we imagined we would end up with over 100 events in nine days in our first full year.

You can see the massive festival programme for yourself, with the tickets and the details for all the events between 9th and 17th June now online at www.biggreenweek.com.

It is a spectacular line-up of internationally renowned speakers and celebrities. Their mission inspire the next generation of great green ideas through a fun-filled nine days.

Human and social capital takes the bus

Betsy Reed — Fri, 04 May 2012 12:02:05 +0000

‘Human Capital consists of people's health, knowledge, skills and motivation,’
personality and creativity etc.

Social Capital usually ‘concerns the institutions that help us maintain and develop human capital
in partnership with others,’ like families, communities, businesses, groups etc.

I was sitting on the bus one morning this week, wearing my headphones, studiously avoiding eye contact with strangers and still waking up for the day ahead. Adhering to the unspoken rules of commuting in a major city, in other words. It was 8.15 in the morning, and I hadn’t had any coffee yet. Mulling over human and social capital – ie the value that humans possess and how it can be tapped into - was not high on my agenda.

Talking about Better ways of doing business - a twitter story from New York

Geraldine Gilbert — Thu, 03 May 2012 10:36:24 +0000

Creating a sustainable society starts at home

Patti Whaley — Wed, 02 May 2012 22:46:00 +0000

At a recent high level UN meeting Bhutan’s Prime Minister Jigmi Y. Thinley said that if mankind is to avoid its current unsustainable and self-destructive course it needs to replace GDP with Gross Domestic Happiness. A tough challenge. But one we think we’re up to at Forum for the Future, so we’re trying it in our own little corner of the cosmos – the Forum offices.

Our very own James Goodman published a book of poetry...

We’re just wrapping up our final reports and accounts for 2011. Not particularly exciting news you say? Well, what is exciting is reflecting on the success we’ve had and what that means for our staff.

Action for a sustainable shipping industry by 2040

Sam Kimmins — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 17:12:08 +0000

Last week, the 16 members of the Sustainable Shipping Initiative gathered at the historic (and very hot) Fort Canning, Singapore. We were at Singapore Maritime Week to announce the practical actions we’re taking to make our Vision for a sustainable industry reality.

Photo: Simon Bennett, General Manager - Sustainable Development, China Navigation Company: Swire Shipping, speaking at the SSI work stream launch during Singapore Maritime Week on April 26th 2012

How do you recycle a ship?

Sam Kimmins — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 11:17:00 +0000

It’s a beautiful sunny day in Seoul, and members of the Sustainable Shipping Initiative are meeting at the offices of Korean shipyard DSME to finalise plans to develop a Closed Loop Materials Management system for shipping.

In short, we’re developing a system for tracking all of the materials that go into building and maintaining a ship, to enable them to be recovered for recycling at the end of the ship's life. The concept is based on systems used by the European car industry, where extraordinary levels of recycling have been achieved. With some commentators predicting severe shortages of high quality steel in Europe by 2050, this is as much a commercial imperative as an environmental initiative.

Dairy 2020 – a vision & framework for a sustainable UK dairy industry

Sally Uren — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 10:57:13 +0000

‘It won’t work. Sustainability is too complicated, and no-one trusts each other’. These were the words of warning we heard from several quarters at the beginning of the Dairy 2020 project in early 2011. Fast forward to today, when, in the majestic surroundings of the UK’s House of Commons we are launching a vision for what a sustainable UK dairy industry should look like, and a plan for how we’re going to get there. The ‘we’ in question is the Dairy 2020 steering group, comprised of Asda, Dairy UK, Dairy Co, Defra, two dairy farmers, First Milk, the NFU, and Volac. Forum was part of the steering group and designed, managed and facilitated the process.

So, why do we need Dairy 2020?

If you had a sugar lump for a head, would you drink tea?

Anna Warrington — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 17:31:39 +0000

All this action can leave little time for deep thought. But the UK premier of the new film about Gregory Bateson – the great systems thinker – by his daughter Nora gave us an opportunity to pause and reflect on our work on systems innovation. We thought we’d share some of our reflections, along with those of some alumni and friends of the Bath MSc Responsibility & Business Practice and its progeny the Ashridge Masters in Sustainability and Responsibility.

Bateson’s use of simple stories and pictures to illustrate some pretty complex ideas particularly resonated with us all. We like our stories, and we really like our pictures.

Energise Barnet powers ahead

Madeleine Lewis — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 09:20:57 +0000

Forum for the Future's project, Gatecrashing the Energy Sector, was a pilot project to identify and support disruptive innovation in the energy sector. The aim was to help accelerate the creation of a sustainable energy system. Four ideas were developed and showcased at an event in 2011. A panel of expert judges awarded a £4000 prize to the winning idea - Energise Barnet - a brand new, community-led initiative run by local residents to improve the energy efficiency of housing and the environmental well-being of the London borough of Barnet. Here Nigel Farren from Energise Barnet gives us an update on progress one year on.

Hi. I'm Nigel from Energise Barnet.

O2 Think Big Blueprint

Ben Kellard — Thu, 29 Mar 2012 12:51:05 +0000

The biggest contribution O2 can make to a sustainable future is as agents of change. So says O2 (Telefonica UK) as part of their bold Think Big Blueprint plan that they launched earlier this year.

As Forum’s partnership manager for O2, I recently hosted a webinar where O2’s Gareth Rice (Head of Environment) and Simon Davis (Corporate Responsibility Manager) explained more about the plan and their journey to this point. You can see the slides below.

The plan sets out how O2 will “harness our unique understanding of technology and digital connectivity to build a more sustainable future. [It] will focus our efforts on supporting the next generation, enriching people's lives and reducing the UK's environmental footprint”. There are three key goals to be reached by 2015:

From chocolate to chicken, we should really get to know each other better…

Geraldine Gilbert — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 09:30:05 +0000

Life is all about priorities. To end my three-month trip around South America (lucky me!) I decided to skip mountain-biking down the “world’s most dangerous road” in Bolivia, and instead, I’ve opted for Peru’s most cocoa-ey road, to find out more about my very good friend, chocolate.

Is retail ready for the digital shift?

Peter Madden — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 14:06:59 +0000

I was on a panel last week to launch BT's Retailtopia, a study event which examines the immense impact that information technology is likely to have on shopping over the next 10 years. On current trends, online shopping will account for over half of all purchases in a decade, with Amazon set to overtake Walmart as the planet's biggest retailer. And although UK companies are currently world leaders in online and digitally-enabled shopping, I think that very few of the big retail players are really prepared for the scale of the changes to come.

Shoppers select products for home delivery at a virtual store in a South Korean subway

Man City vs Liverpool – what energy future will we choose?

Iain Watt — Mon, 19 Mar 2012 00:00:00 +0000

With a professional interest in energy, a personal interest in football, and an ability to be easily-entertained by football-related analogies, I really enjoyed reading James Murray’s recent blog.

Image courtesy of Flikr

James described gas as “the Man City of energy technologies: currently dominant and well-funded, but reliant on a Middle Eastern regime and facing serious questions about its long-term stability,” and nuclear as “the Liverpool of energy technologies: big in the 1980s, but not done much since and with serious doubts about its foreign benefactors as well as its ability to deliver a return to the glory days.”

Good stuff.

Every day is Women's Day

Sara Parkin — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 20:05:48 +0000

That’s it. Over for another year. International Women’s Day that is. I would have written this last week, but for the red mist that envelops me around 8th March every year. Though a special day every year does means some brilliant women leaders get publicity and give inspiration and encouragement to other women, it only underlines how pathetic is the progress of women to any sort of parity of with men in opportunity and esteem.

Those that study these things point out men want to be like other ‘great’ men much more than they want to be like a woman, however great. And that even after 40 years of EU legislation on equal pay, the gap remains, well, illegal; and that both the process for getting into powerful leadership roles and the behaviour needed to stay there are remorselessly macho male.

Jam today or jam tomorrow – how to be a leader for the long term?

Alice Chapple — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 08:30:13 +0000

This week a public letter from a Goldman Sachs employee caught the attention of the press. In the letter, he explains that he is leaving the company because its culture has been destroyed by a focus on short-term money-making at clients’ expense. His point is that Goldman Sachs’s 143-year success has not been built on a focus on short-term profit maximisation but on a focus on meeting the needs of its clients over the long term. Lose that, he argues, and the profits will very soon stop flowing.

Image courtesy of Alicia's blog

What does it take to engage employees in sustainability?

Ben Kellard — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 16:18:26 +0000

When you shape a topiary bush, you set the structure then you let it go wild. Or so says Katie Hyson from O2, who says we should do the same with employee engagement. Katie was drawing on her experience of engaging O2 staff with their new sustainability strategy, Think Big.

By working in this way, she argues that you can harness the growth and energy of your people and then shape it further, according to your strategic areas. This addresses a common dilemma we find that many organisations face; should we start bottom-up or top down? O2’s approach shows that you can do both. Direction and permission comes from ‘the top’ while energy comes from the bottom by allowing colleagues to own and interpret the strategy at a local level.