Tag: CSR

Who is Responsible for The Global Climate Crisis?

Who is Responsible for The Global Climate Crisis?

by Anne-Maria Yritys, posted in Change Leadership, climate action, climate leadership, Global Climate Change

With millions of people around the world marching and striking on behalf of the environment and citizens worldwide demanding increased and more rapid action and political decisions in terms of fighting back against anthropogenic climate change, it is without question a reality of today that people call governments and politicians for taking faster actions to meet the targets of the Paris Agreement. Never before has climate change, the environment, the climate crisis or for instance pollution and greenhouse gases been covered so intensely by various media outlets globally. It is obvious that climate change and the global environmental crisis are among the most discussed topics today.

Who is responsible for the global climate crisis? 

What almost appears as a global panic attack in terms of anxiety caused by the state of the global environment and the human-caused climate disaster, demonstrators across the world aim to put pressure on governments and politicians with a democratic justification to do so.

Don’t be afraid to stand for what you believe in, even if it means standing alone

Instead of blame-shifting and pointing fingers on who is the biggest criminal in terms of environmental destruction and human-caused climate change, we should better start recognizing the root causes that have placed humanity in the position that we are in today, followed by determined and smart actions throughout societies. This is already clear to the world: we know the root problems, and largely what to do about the problem. Around the world, businesses are already taking serious action to combat anthropogenic climate change. Citizens are taking action. Cities are taking action. Governments are taking action. Countries are OBLIGED to take action (see e.g. Paris Agreement).

A few facts concerning human-caused climate change (through emitting greenhouse gases):

  • The global energy sector alone is responsible for 80 % of emissions which is the main reason for the need to transition from fossil fuels to non-nuclear renewables
  • Cities worldwide are responsible for 70 % of all emissions which is why cities worldwide have no other option than to take action if they want to become carbon-neutral
  • Agriculture is both affected by and a major source of greenhouse gas emissions. Up to more than 30 % of ALL greenhouse gas emissions are caused either directly or indirectly by agriculture and farming practices.
  • Every human being on this planet contributes to man-made climate change and environmental destruction. Some less, others significantly much more. One major factor that has to be realized is that each and one of us has influence on how much of a burden we are to the environment. As consumers, we can vote through our consuming habits: demand better quality and consider what and how we consume.

Contact me directly for consultations. Anne-Maria Yritys, June 3rd 2019. All rights reserved.

 

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How Ecological is Your Food?

by Anne-Maria Yritys, posted in Change Leadership, climate action, climate leadership, Global Climate Change, poverty reduction

 

No one should be able to afford throwing food away but if you do, please remember to sort it separately as BIODEGRADABLE WASTE. Recycling is a MUST for all of us these days.

 

Throwing away food in a world where millions of people starve each year is a matter of poor choices and ignorance rather than a lack of food worldwide. With more than 7 billion inhabitants on our planet today, food for at least 10 billion people is produced, much of which is being thrown away.

 

Biowaste when ending up in landfills, unprocessed, causes methane emissions which in turn cause climate change and is a greenhouse gas at least 30 times as powerful as carbon dioxide (CO2) in the short run.

 

The Finnish Church in Tampere is setting an example by organizing free-of-charge ECOLOGICAL BRUNCHES from surplus/residue food products that have remained unsold by local supermarkets.

 

Today for instance oven-baked salmon, graved whitefish and many vegetarian/vegan dishes were served to citizens. Unless the church would arrange these ecological brunches, all of this food would most probably have been thrown away.

 

#ecobrunch #surplusfood #povertyreduction #climatechange #recycling #biowaste #foodsafety #socialresponsibility #churchinfinland #foodbanks #CSR

 

 

 

Child Labor, Corruption, and (Ethical) Consumption – How Can You Make a Difference?

by Anne-Maria Yritys, posted in Business Ethics, Change Management, CSR, Digital Marketing, Global Economics, Online Strategy, Responsible Investing, Thought Leadership

Since repetition is the mother of learning, the father of action, and so the architect of accomplishment like Zig Ziglar once wisely quoted, let me repeat some of the cruel facts about the state of ethics and moral on planet Earth: 

CHILD LABOR

-The total global number of child labor has decreased in the past decade, but still, an estimation of 168 million children worldwide are forced to work, more than half of whom are involved in hazardous work. 

– The geographical regions where child labor is at its highest: 

  • APAC (Asia and the Pacific) with almost 78 million 
  • Sub-Saharan Africa with 59 million
  • Latin America and the Caribbean with 13 million
  • Middle East and North Africa with around 9 million

The major part of these children work within agriculture (almost 100 million), followed by services (54 million) and industry (12 million). (ILO-IPEC. Making progress against child labor. Global estimates and trends 2000-2012. 2013. Quoted 30.6.2014). 

Read the detailed definitions of child labor in ILO Conventions: 

http://bit.ly/1iS3bq9

Children participating in work not affecting their health, personal development, or interfering with their education is different, but being trapped in other kinds of activities, including the cruelest forms such as slavery in armed conflicts, forced labor, or commercial sexual exploitation, drug trafficking, and organized begging, are ruthless violations of children´s freedom and human rights. (UN. Child Labor. Quoted 30.6.2014).

CORRUPTION

Corruption, literally “utterly broken”, was already used by Aristotle and Cicero, adding the terms bribe and abandonment of good habits. In political terminology, corruption is the illegitimate use of public power to benefit a private interest. Corruption is also an action to secretly provide goods or services to someone in order to influence certain actions benefiting the corrupt, a third-party, or both. The moral dimension of corruption can either refer to a mentality problem, or to external circumstances such as poverty, inadequate remuneration, inappropriate work conditions, weak or very complex procedures demoralizing people thus letting them look for alternative solutions. (Wikipedia. Quoted 30.6.2014). 

Worldwide, there are a number of organizations and national institutions dealing with, and providing information about, corruption, including OECD with its slogan “Better Policies for Better Lives” (OECD. Bribery in International Business. Quoted 30.6.2014), and UNCAC (The United Nations Convention against Corruption), a multilateral convention negotiated by members of the UN. (UNODC. United Nations Convention against Corruption. Quoted 30.6.2014).

Read the complete report of the UN Convention against Corruption:

http://bit.ly/1sQpWyX

Transparency International, a global movement working to end corruption worldwide, publishes a Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) each year, ranking countries and territories based on their level of corruption in the public sector. To see the current results, and to test your knowledge, please visit Transparency International: http://cpi.transparency.org/cpi2013/. (Transparency International. Quoted 30.6.2014). 

These are only two major global problems, among many others.

The question is, how can YOU, and your organization, make a difference?

As a private household consumer, it is not always easy to know all the work included in a certain product, unless you have produced it yourself of course. This is why it is so important that organizations operate with a high level of transparency and inform their customers about their level of standards in all of the organization´s business practices. Most progressive organizations, these days, are concerned with how they produce, or at least organizations and corporations should be socially responsible, and so make it easier for consumers to know what they are buying. 

As a consumer it is possible to invest some time in finding out more about the product, its origins, and the kind of work included in the process. If you, as a consumer, are unsure about whether a company is bringing “ethically clean” products to the market, you can always choose to ask the company, and demand supplementary information about a specific product. If it is not available, or given to you, another possibility is to change your consumer behavior and choose products that you know are ethically produced. 

Ethical consumption, first popularized by the UK magazine the Ethical Consumer, favors ethical products, empowering consumers to make ethically informed consumption choices and providing reliable information on corporate behavior. These criteria-based ethical and environmental ratings have become commonplace both in providing consumer information and in B2B, CSR and sustainability ratings. (Wikipedia. Quoted 30.6.2014). 

It may all sound somewhat complex to start with, but don´t we all want to spend our money wisely and ethically?

The next time you go shopping, start by asking yourself, why a certain product is so cheap? The price is not always an indicator of unethical production, but it could be.