Working for a better world

Nike recently adverstised a new post for a 'Code for a Better World Fellow'.

I'm enjoying watching the shift in job titles and funcations as leading organisations start to recruit the people that they know will be able to help them make a significant, sustainable shift. Here's part of the Nike spec:

"help Nike determine the steps needed to open our sustainability data to communities of data-obsessed programmers, visual designers and researchers"

"work with Nike's data managers to landscape current data and craft a desired future state; manage the formatting and release of data to the open data community; curate use of the data within the community; bring knowledge from the open data community back to Nike as actionable steps; attend conferences related to open data to grow Nike's network and profile in this space; and ultimately create/steward the creation of prototypes that demonstrate how opening Nike's sustainability data can be a force to drive change.

The Code for a Better World Fellow will work in Nike's Sustainable Business and Innovation team. As a part of this approximately 130-person-strong global team, the fellow will be working to help pave a sustainable future for the company. A future where creation of products isn't tied to scarce natural resources like water and oil; where manufacturing is lean, green, equitable and empowered; and where everyone, everywhere has access to sport"

Just go do it.

Cycling numbers

Just saw this in a tender notice, for delivery of training in London.

This is what it looks like when people set targets that make change

"increase cycling by 400 per cent by 2026 compared to 2000"

Good to see, at last.

Nitrogen numbers

From Tara Garnett at the immensely useful Food & Climate Research Network:

A major new study, the first European Nitrogen Assessment (ENA),  has found that nitrogen pollution is costing each person in Europe around £130 - £650 (€150 – €740) a year. The study, carried out by 200 experts from 21 countries and 89 organizations, estimates that the annual cost of damage caused by nitrogen across Europe is £60 - £280 billion (€70 - €320 billion), more than double the extra income gained from using nitrogen fertilizers in European agriculture. 

Professor Bob Watson, Chief Scientific Advisor to the UK’s Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), welcomed the report. He said, "The assessment emphasizes how nitrogen links the different environmental issues that we have come to know so well: climate, biodiversity, air, water, and soil pollution. It develops the vision for a more holistic approach, which is vital if we are to make progress in tackling these issues."

The ENA is the first time that the multiple threats of nitrogen pollution, including contributions to climate change and biodiversity loss, have been valued in economic terms at a continental scale.  As well as identifying key threats the assessment also identifies the geographical areas at greatest risk of damage by nitrogen pollution.  The report provides EU policymakers with a comprehensive scientific assessment on the consequences of failing to address the problem of nitrogen pollution – and outlines key actions that can be taken to reduce the problem to protect environmental and public health.

The assessment deals with ‘reactive nitrogen’ which includes ammonia, nitrous oxide (laughing gas), nitrogen oxides (NOx) which form acid rain and smog, and nitrates,  as distinct from the ‘inert nitrogen’ which makes up 78% of the atmosphere.

Key messages from the assessment include:

• At least ten million people in Europe are potentially exposed to drinking water with nitrate concentrations above recommended levels.
• Nitrates cause toxic algal blooms and dead zones in the sea, especially in the North, Adriatic and Baltic seas and along the coast of Brittany. 
• Nitrogen-based air pollution from agriculture, industry and traffic in urban areas contributes to particulate matter air pollution, which is reducing life expectancy by several months across much of central Europe.
• In the forests atmospheric nitrogen deposition has caused at least 10% loss of plant diversity over two-thirds of Europe.

Being the change

Be The Change are a vibrant group of teachers, artists, change makers and coaches intent on sharing and building the skills necessary for a sustainable future. This paragraph of theirs elegantly summarises a challenge that many of us face:

"The villain here is not big business, the corporate media, the military-industrial complex, or even those who for personal profit seek to clearcut our forests, overfish our oceans, pollute our atmosphere or drain our aquifers. The villain is an outmoded worldview - a way of seeing the world in which such unthinkable acts appear reasonable, sensible, and even intelligent. Until we address the very assumptions that underlie the way we see ourselves and our world, we cannot move fully and positively in new directions"

Leaving the labels?

Across the Atlantic from where I'm sitting in St Davids, designer and catalyst Bruce Mau is asking the question "how do we put university quality education into the hands of the 99% of 18 year olds who don't get to go, but need the insight it can deliver?"

Seth Godin also asks "What would happen if people spent it building up a work history instead [of focusing on a getting a over-hyped university degree]? On becoming smarter, more flexible, more self-sufficient and yes, able to take more risk because they owe less money...

There's no doubt that we need smarter and more motivated people in our organizations. I'm not sure we need them to be better labeled or more accredited.

In the UK, the Seven Fools are asking employers for their wish list of the characteristics that they'd want new employees to have if their businesses were serious about innovation and sustainability. So far, no-one has said "they need more knowledge". Capability, results, evidence and portfolios are what's needed, so let's focus on creating an education system that can deliver both.