The Guardian taps into the case of supermarkets and female workers.

Music Industry 102

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Prominent U.S. hip-hop executive Russell Simmons on Monday recommended eliminating the words "bitch," "ho" and "nigger" from the recording industry, considering them "extreme curse words."

"Our internal discussions with industry leaders are not about censorship. Our discussions are about the corporate social responsibility of the industry to voluntarily show respect to African Americans and other people of color, African American women and to all women in lyrics and images," the statement from Simmons and Chavis said on Monday.

Hard to Make a Stand?

This weekend's New York Times and other papers reported of an argument between White House Chief of Staff Karl Rove and rockstar Sheryl Crow. According to the Times, Ms Crow had approached Mr Rove at a social dinner to discuss global warming. Crow had touched Rove's arm to talk to him about climate change, and Rove had spat back ("Don't touch me"); the argument had escalated from there.

Karl Rove got very mad at Sheryl Crow this weekend, but was Mr Rove perhaps just envious of Ms Crow's stage presence?

Exhibit A: Here's Ms Crow performing Hard to Make a Stand in summer 2006.
We got loud guitars and big suspicions,
Great big guns and small ambitions,
And we still argue over who is God
And I say, "Hey there Miscreation,
Bring a flower, time is wasting"
"Hey there Miscreation,
We all need a celebration"
And it's hard to make a stand

Exhibit B: Mr Rove recently attended the Radio-Television Correspondents Association dinner. Mr Rove joined a group of comedians in rapping on stage.

That was truly terrible. But wait... Mr Rove's performance is strangely reminiscent of a few previous hair-raising moments in home video history. Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer loved his company a few years ago, and he really out-of-breath loved it.

Ballmer is really, really frightening. But Karl Rove may also have been inspired by the Bank of America guys. We've seen this before, and it's almost too much to bear.

Now, I'm a non-native speaker, so when a White House spokesperson called Ms Crow's meeting with Karl Rove "Hollywood histrionics" I, for one, actually had to check the dictionary for "histrionics." It means "theatrical performance." Ms Crow's moment with Mr Rove was "a theatrical performance"? Compared to Mr Rove's look-I-can-laugh-at-myself rap? No comment. Men -- can anyone imagine a woman doing anything like Rove/Ballmer/BofA? Nope. No way. Never. If a woman does this, she won't be the President's right-hand woman or the CEO of the largest software company in the world. She's probably taken to - that's right, people - rehab.

Exhibit C: Britney Spears... Britney Spears went bald/ballistic/ballmer earlier this spring, and was admitted to a place called Promises.

Okay, so Sheryl Crow herself may be the first to admit it's hard to make a climate-saving stand at a White House Correspondents' Association dinner, but for what it's worth, in this video below, rocking with Mick Jagger, even Sheryl Crow's jeans make a greater political stand than Rove/Ballmer/BofA probably ever could ("we want to be rockstars" -- no, guys, but you have a lot in common in the silliness department!!!)

(This entry owes YouTube a huge debt of gratitude... Thank yous go out to all those YouTube posters out there posting these great clips...)

Earth Day

Google looks like this today. ->

Clicking on the image on www.google.com brings you here.

Pretty powerful, considering how many people will see that...

Signs of Spring

The Guardian also spots signs of spring in the English countryside.




Wanted to lighten people's day with these images. They were taken in the south of Finland, in Espoo, in the end of March -- early for crocuses in Finland? Thought they were very pretty.

An Astra Zeneca sales manager was fired after making some crass statements in a company newsletter. Mike Zubillaga was a regional manager for cancer drug sales.

The case became widely known after a former Pfizer sales representative Peter Rost copied the article into his blog.

Last fall several leading medical schools in the US began declining visits by pharmaceutical sales representatives.

The Independent's leading article today: "A global warning from the dustbowl of Australia."

The article states that "Australia is in the midst of a crippling drought, the worst on record", calling for urgent action to curb climate change.

Australia and the United States are the only industrialized nations that have not signed the Kyoto protocol.

Knowledge @t Wharton published a fascinating review of emotional contagion and managing emotions in the workplace, based on an article by Wharton professor Sigal Barsade.

Risto Pennanen writes about perception management and corporate responsibility in Taloussanomat today (Finnish only.) He argues that a corporation's day-to-day reality and its public image must correspond, lest the company experience brain drain and difficulties recruiting young talent.

Loyalty vs. Layoffs

I already have an offer for a summer job, but it entails getting up early and riding the metro to work. After the recent rape cases in and around the city, I'm really concerned about being outside alone at 6 am. So at the bank yesterday, I was quite happy when the teller began to recruit me on the spot. She was a lovely person, and she noticed from my information that I have some experience in the financial services sector.

Today I received a call from the HR manager at the bank.

"That's an interesting combination", she said about my study and work experience, "Perhaps it could lead you to X direction."

"Interesting" was most likely code for "I'm confused, where is this leading to?" But does it matter? You guys have a labor shortage, I can sell you hours, I'm not half bad, so it might just work.

When she asked me about my future plans, I candidly said there is no five-year plan (I stopped making them about five and half years ago when I literally saw with my own eyes how life can change in an instant.) It doesn't mean I'm not focused, it just means I'm less stressed out and much happier (that I didn't say.)

I also implied that ten years ago I used to have five-year plans, and I followed through meticulously. And let's say I do have some plans -- would I share something so personal with a human resources manager I have never actually sat down with? My five-year plan includes more than just work. (Hint: one of these days I swear I will get that dog!)

Presumably, it sounded as if she hoped to hear that I was really interested in building a career with this company and very excited about the opportunity. What I'm saying is, in my book that would sort of be akin to meeting someone on the subway and on the following day telling him I'm in love (and that, my friends, would make me a bit kooky -- and not just a little bit.)

Anyhow, when I hung up, it occurred to me that more often than not, it seems a candidate is expected to show an insincere degree of interest and loyalty from the get go ("I don't know who I'll be working with or what I'll be working on or where, but YES, I would LOVE to work for you!"), while knowing that many profitable businesses return neither their loyalty nor their affection, but lay people off without so much as an explanation.

No wonder many people are feeling sick of it. Geez, it's just work!

I swear, if they ask me where I see myself in five years, I will thank them for their time and go outside into the sunshine. And take that metro ride in the a.m.

Teaching sustainability in Business Schools?
This sounds too good, but it is from csrwire.com:

"Colleges and universities around the world are increasingly integrating CSR into their curricula and beyond.Academia is increasingly embracing corporate sustainability and responsibility.

This week, for example, Marlboro College Graduate Center in Brattleboro, Vermont announced the launching of a new, accredited MBA program in Managing for Sustainability. Marlboro tips its hat in acknowledging the influence of trailblazing sustainability-oriented MBA programs such as Bainbridge Graduate Institute in Washington, which topped a recent ranking of sustainable business programs by Net Impact, the global student organization promoting CSR.

And the campus greening trend is truly global, as a group of MBAs from Instituto de Empresa in Madrid recently earned the title of "Global Champions of Sustainable Innovation" from Thunderbird School of Global Management.

Traditional business schools are getting into the act as well. This week Harvard Business School announced its Second Annual Microfinance Leadership Program in collaboration with microfinance pioneer ACCION International.

Earlier this month, Harvard Business Review announced the McKinsey Award for the most significant article of 2006 went to Michael Porter and Mark Kramer's "Strategy and Society: The Link Between Competitive Advantage and Corporate Social Responsibility."

Across town, the Boston College Center for Corporate Citizenship launched a new magazine entitled The Corporate Citizen earlier this year, extending the center's longstanding contribution to CSR. Finally, academic institutions themselves recently received grades on the social and environmental responsibility of their campus programs and endowment investing from the Sustainable Endowments Institute in The College Sustainability Report Card.

...och glöm inte Net Impact excursionen till Globe Hope nästa måndag! Anmäl dig senast i morgon (19.4).

There is a lot of craziness going on and I haven't posted in days for NI, partly because I was working this past weekend and partly because of family commitments. First of all, thoughts go out to everyone at Virginia Tech.

New York is experiencing flooding this week, with a strong Nor'easter ravishing the state.

The Times' Thomas Friedman, the author of recent international non-fiction bestsellers, is now focusing on green energy. Friedman argues the US ought to take the lead in green business and politics.

My cousin alerted me to a Darfur campaign on Google Earth. It is not for the faint hearted. Download Google Earth and type in these coordinates for Darfur: latitude: 13° 0'23.97"N, longitude: 23°44'43.14"E.

Hej allihopa,

det var trevliga "Green Drinks" med Kauppis Sustainable Business Club i går - vi var totalt ca 10, något jämt fördelat mellan Hanken och Kauppis.

Den 23.4 - måndag om en vecka - ska vi på excursion till Globe Hope i Nummela. Kolla www.globehope.com.

Start ca 15-15.30 -tiden från stan (med buss från Kampen), och tillbaka senare på kvällen, ca 18.30-19-tiden.

Globe Hopes VD Seija Lukkala presenterar företaget åt oss, och berättar om konceptet "ekologisk design", och om själva affärsidén i Globe Hope.

Efter en kort presentation öppnar de fabriksbutiken för oss... så ta lite pengar med, vårshopping garanterat!!

Vi åker tillbaka med buss till Kampen.

Vi har bjudig Kauppis Sustainable Business Club med oss, och några har redan anmält sig från andra sidan gatan.

Anmäl dig gärna på den här lilla & spännande excursionen till
johanna.brotherus (at) metso.com , senast 19.4!

Romania Imports Chinese Labor

Romanian workers are leaving the country for higher wages; Romanian factory owners import Chinese labor. The New York Times reports.

TGGWS in Iltalehti

Over Easter, I quietly fumed about how Iltalehti published a reader comment recommending -- what else? -- The Great Global Warming Swindle to Finnish viewers. Wow. Recall that one interviewee in TGGWS later claimed that he was "the one who had been swindled" as he was "misrepresented" as a climate change sceptic. (The good thing about YouTube's current copyright infringement battle? TGGWS has been removed from the web.) The Iltalehti reader commenting on the film actually argued that, "The issue that we ought to be concerned about is environmental protection... I think it is mostly the media's and politicians' fault that climate change has become a more visible issue than taking care of the world's environment and oceans (sic). They are, after all, two totally separate issues."

First of all, I'm not even sure what I was doing reading Iltalehti, and secondly, I'm sorry, but what the heck? Oh my God. It is hard to fathom someone would genuinely write such a piece. The compartmentalization is simply mind blowing. Since when were environmental protection and climate change separate issues? Since when was the environment separate from the oceans? Despite the incoherence, Iltalehti afforded that piece of writing one third of a page, advertised TGGWS and juxtaposed this with a picture of pretty yellow flowers. It was clearly an effort to provoke, since that's what tabloids are about, but it's irresponsible: polemic that instills complacency.

The least critical and the least educated are the most likely to get their "science" from Iltalehti. Climate scepticism and films like TGGWS may claim to be about enhancing scientific literacy and inspiring dialogue, but most of us do not have the education to fully understand the science of climate change, anyway. The scientists themselves do not claim to fully understand it! None of us fully understand the consequences of our actions and nobody can predict the future, but does it stop us from living our lives? No. We do the best with whatever knowledge we've got, (hopefully) not doubting our every move. So why would anyone let the climate change polemic brew such doubt that they do nothing? How cocky to think that just by observing the weather and reading the dailies one could know better than individuals who've devoted their entire careers to the subject! Scientists have very little to gain from telling us the environment is changing and we're causing it. When thousands of scientists tell us they are confident something is for real, why can we not take it on faith -- are people that untrusting with the so-called establishment these days? Can the tabloids not go back to antagonizing Hollywood?

Here's a link to the discussion. Unfortunately, I can't seem to find the original comment on the web; they probably only published it in the actual paper. I especially enjoyed that comment where someone tells another writer to "calm down, you're not going to die," and the other one responds, "I most certainly will, you wanna bet?" Me too, I will most certainly die. It's probably not going to be climate change that will kill me, just like the Greenland ice sheet won't melt next year, but that doesn't mean those things won't eventually happen.

Hej! Net Impact medlem Kristoffer Wilen tipsade oss om följande happening.
Häng alltså med på en liten cykeltur innan Green Drinks nästa tisdag!

Lähde mukaan Kriittiselle pyöräretkelle
Kokoontuminen 10.4.2007 kello 16.30 Havis Amandan patsaalla Helsingissä.
Pyöräilemme niillä Helsingin tieosuuksilla, joissa liikennejärjestelyt
pyöräilijöiden kannalta ovat kaikkein huonoimmat.

Samalla näytämme, että pyöräilijät muodostavat kriittisen massan, joka tulee huomioida
liikennesuunnittelussa ja kaupungin rakenteessa. Ei käy laatuun, että
vuodesta toiseen tuetaan eri tavoin yksityisautoilua, joka saastuttaa
ilman ja tekee muiden kaupunkilaisten elämän hankalaksi. Autoistaminen
uhkaa siirtää elämän kaupungista kehäteiden varsille ostoskeskuksiin.
Autoille varattua tilaa tulee saada pyörien käyttöön. Huonosti
suunnitellut pyöräreitit, huonokuntoiset pyörätiet ja lähes täydellinen
pyöräkaistojen puute osoittavat, että pyörä nähdään lähinnä liikkumis-
eikä liikennemuotona, vaikka samalla puhutaan pyöräilymäärien
kaksinkertaistamisesta.

Kriittisen pyöräretken reitti on vähän yli kymmenen kilometriä pitkä ja
kiertää Kampin, Töölön, Meilahden, Rautatieaseman, Kallion, Sörnäisten ja
Kruununhaan kautta.

Swindle

Readers on a New York Times forum are referring others to the The Great Global Warming Swindle for credible (some argue "unassailable") evidence against human-induced global warming. The Swindle movie is so conveniently available on YouTube that literally hundreds of thousands of people have watched it over the past three weeks.

I posted quotes on the forum from the Guardian and the Independent to discredit Swindle. It was pretty much the same stuff posted here on our blog a few weeks ago. If you'd like to read the forum, my comments are under my first name; someone also responded to me (they got my name wrong and spelled it Kristeen, but just ctrl-F that and my name and there's my slice of the debate if you're interested.)

A forum like that shows the depth of doubt and breadth of opinion out there. I felt it was imperative to comment publicly on this film. People with no scientific background are trying to debate the larger issues by arguing over details that most of us simply cannot understand without extensive science education. The details don't change the big picture: we are putting gas in the atmosphere, hence it warms. Period. Many are using a film like Swindle to infer that human-induced climate change is merely a liberal hoax. All I'm saying is, I'm not an atmospheric scientist (either); sometimes you just have to trust the people who are. These are people who are working for a fraction of what they'd get in industry, telling us this thing is real. Endless debating among lay people without PhDs is what keeps the masses from taking action. Why are we willing to believe marketing and all kinds of hype, but unwilling to believe scientists?

Once the real evidence arrives, it may be too late. This view finds support in Oxford Today, which in its latest issue published an article about green energy:

Likewise, [Good Energy CEO Juliet] Davenport agrees that saving the planet is more about people than science. 'I do believe that humanity is incredibly innovative and incredibly powerful. But for governments to take action there has to be real public awareness of the issue', she says. 'I do believe that we will come up with a way of solving this problem. But to get to that critical tipping-point of public awareness, I fear there may have to be casualties first.'

Ben Franklin said it best: "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure."

Happy Easter / Passover everyone. More blog entries from me next week.

Entertainment Industry 101: From Humps and Lumps to Greater Meaning

It's too bad we can't draw flowcharts on Blogger, but try to picture this.

Universal Studios, like Universal Music, was until recently a subsidiary of Vivendi. We recall Vivendi/Universal Music/A&M were behind the masterful My Humps.

To service some debt a few years ago, Vivendi had to sell a majority stake of Universal Studios to GE. (You with me?) All three are looking for new blockbusters.

Now GE+Vivendi/Universal Studios have picked up a new movie called "The Peaceful Warrior." The trailer is below. The storyline is: a chance encounter with a stranger changes the life of a college gymnast ("Movies aid search for "greater meaning"" from Yahoo! news.)

It is nice if a particularly moving filming gets people thinking, and it's good entertainment, too. The business model here, though, is spelled out below by one of the companies' representatives: creating a market in transformational films.

There are a few question marks. General Electric, the owner of the company that distributes Peaceful Warrior used to produce nuclear weapons. Vivendi reaped gains from My Humps.

Additionally, although General Electric is no longer involved in producing nuclear weapons, the company owns GE-Aviation / Smiths Aerospace ("We Bring Technology To Life", a twist on GE's motto "We Bring Good Things To Life.") Although it's not clear how much of Smiths Aerospace's business comes from the defense market, much of their avionics no doubt go to the military. I once worked for a similar firm (oh, yes, I did and it's a looooooong story) and it was mostly manned by ex-military selling to the military.

Any one of us could read the Bible online, or perhaps the Dhammapada, available for free. But it wouldn't generate revenue. Quoting Reuters,

"Despite the marketing challenge, Fogelson sees further opportunity in the growing audience for such transformational films. "I think there is absolutely a viable and powerful business model in making and distributing films for this audience," he said. "I think it starts with knowing there is a large enough and very passionate audience that can be found and spoken to and served. Whether it can expand beyond that I think is entirely a function of what kind of product is created.""

Music Industry 101: Environmental Impact Assessment of "My Humps"

This is a case study of the societal effects of My Humps by the Black Eyed Peas. (The lyrics can be found here.) The album was produced by A&M Records in the US and Interscope in the UK, both subsidiaries of Universal Music Group, the largest business group and family of record labels in the industry, with approximately $5 billion revenues in fiscal 2005. Vivendi is Universal's parent company, with $20 billion revenues in 2006. The song was once called "one of the most embarrassing rap performances of the new millennium" by music critic John Bush. Much of the criticism stems from repetitive lyrics and exploitation of the female body. Regardless, this video won MTV's best hip hop video of the year award in 2006. (Wikipedia)


This would all seem too funny, if only it wasn't for...

Here's a father-daughter moment featuring My Humps.

I don't claim to understand half of these lyrics any more than these kids do. Here's a little boy's response (look for his sister trying to access the get-away car.)

Here's what happens when boys grow up a little. (Apologies in advance if it's crass; please don't waste five minutes to finish this whole clip. I didn't either and those would be five minutes of your life you can never get back.)

Here's what happens when girls grow up a little (where's their dad?)

Then the little boys and little girls grow up into men and women who try to find love and live happily ever after. We all wonder why it's so hard and would even like to believe it's because we're from altogether different planets. Bah humbug. I mean, bah hump bug.

Then it becomes an international phenomenon. This is in Serbian. Serbian!

Finally someone with a brain and some power in the industry says, I've had enough of this ----, and ... oh Alanis, you rock. You're the best. The best!

ps. Here's an article from the official journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics: "Exposure to Degrading Versus Nondegrading Music Lyrics and Sexual Behavior Among Youth."

Net Impact program update

Nästa tisdag (10.4) ordnar vi igen tillsammans med Kauppis Sustainable Business Club "Green Drinks" på Mr. Don, kl. 19 -> Välkommen att bara droppa in kort, eller stanna kvar med liksinnade för ett stop eller flera...

Mot slutet av april, måndagen den 23.4, sent på eftermiddagen ordnar vi ett studiebesök till GlobeHope i Nummela, som är ett av de mest innovativa & intressanta design-bolag i Finland just nu. Kolla www.globehope.com . Vi får också möjlighet att besöka fabriksbutiken, och köpa övercoolt mode inför sommaren! GlobeHope har vunnit flera design priser förra året, och det har skrivits artiklar om dem i bl.a. Gloria, Talouselämä, Hesari, Kauppalehti, you name it... Vi försöker fiksa fram några artiklar som pdf och skicka till er innan besöket. Affärsidén med GlobeHope är att de köper in gamla klädlager av finska armén, fabriker, Nato, Unicef, mm., och "re-designar" dem till ungdomlig street fashion. Mera info närmare.

Vi ska också ordna ännu några get-togethers för våra medlemmar - intresset har verkat stort, och det skulle vara roligt att träffa så många medlemmar som möjligt! Vi återkommer med datum. Spam-problemet torde vara nu fiksat. Vi ber om ursäkta för allt besvär med spam i postluckan! Meddela alltså i fall du får fortsättningsvis spam via netimpact-epostlistan.

Skön fortsättning på våren & Glad påsk till alla!

New Supreme Court decision: EPA finally allowed to set restrictions on GHG emissions in USA, and GHGs are thus classified as pollution in USA!

In February, I referred to the Citigroup report about the effects of climate change on business:

"If corporations do anyway not care about what consumers think, then they might care of the actions of litigants. There are at least two very interesting trials coming up in the U.S. this year: First, the supreme Court is set to rule on the federal regulation of GHG emissions (the question is whether GHGs are pollution, and whether Environmental Protection Agency EPA should have the mandate to regulate them). "

The Supreme Court has now made its decision, and with votes 5-4 EPA enjoys now the mandate to regulate GHG in USA.

It was president Bush who earlier forced through the law that GHGs are not pollution, and thus EPA should not have the mandate to regulate them... !!!

Newest IPCC Report to be Released on Friday

The IPCC will publish the second part of the fourth climate change assessment report this Friday. It is titled "Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability." The draft outline can be found here. Overall, the message seems to be that the North will first enjoy the benefits of warming, while the South suffers; eventually negative effects dominate everywhere. The poor of the world, who have contributed the least to climate change, will suffer the most. New York Times reports at length about the report.

Petition

Please consider signing a petition by Doctors Without Borders (Medecins Sans Frontieres.)

Swiss pharmaceutical giant Novartis is suing the Indian government to restrict generic drug production and sales in India. This may risk countless lives in the developing world.

In the past, India allowed patents only on a select number of drugs. Thus, India has become a haven for generic production that provides for the healthcare needs of many people in developing world. Over half of the medicines used for AIDS patients in developing countries come from India. 80 percent of AIDS drugs used in MSF projects come from India.

Now the WTO (World Trade Organization) rules require that India begins to grant patents on drugs across the board. Based on the WTO rule, Novartis is suing India to restrict generic production. If the company is successful, the lawsuit may restrict access to affordable medicine to millions of people worldwide.